Evidence from prior outbreaks indicates that Ebola-Reston is highly transmissible by percutaneous exposure (injection) or by mucous membrane (eg., eye or respiratory tract) exposure to droplets of infected body fluids and tissues from infected animals. As with other Ebola virus species, isolation of infected animals, and contact and droplet precautions (gowns, gloves, masks, eye protection) are indicated to prevent transmission. During the outbreaks in U.S. monkey quarantine facilities in 1989 and 1990, there was transmission to animals in separate rooms that may have been due to small-particle aerosols; however, this mode of transmission has not been proven, and other possible explanations for these infections exist.
How is Ebola-Reston virus spread?
Six Reasons to Panic | The Weekly Standard
Jonathan V. Last - from the October 27, 2014, Vol. 20, No. 07 issue
As a rule, one should not panic at whatever crisis has momentarily fixed the attention of cable news producers. But the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has migrated to both Europe and America, may be the exception that proves the rule. There are at least six reasons that a controlled, informed panic might be in order.
(1) Start with what we know, and don’t know, about the virus. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other government agencies claim that contracting Ebola is relatively difficult because the virus is only transmittable by direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person who has become symptomatic. Which means that, in theory, you can’t get Ebola by riding in the elevator with someone who is carrying the virus, because Ebola is not airborne.
This sounds reassuring. Except that it might not be true. …
(2) General infection rates are terrifying, too. In epidemiology, you measure the “R0,” or “reproduction number” of a virus; that is, how many new infections each infected person causes. When R0 is greater than 1, the virus is spreading through a population.
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