Ebola becoming a airborne transmisson vs direct contact?

[Peacetrain]

Since ebola is a contact infection.. there seems to be a lot of talk about it mutating to an airborne transmission?

Has this ever happened before?..

A contact infection mutating to an airborne transmission?

What kind of mutation cycle would that be to do that?

[arcane1]

1. I think they're talking about inhaling droplets from a sneeze, for example.

Not exactly "airborne" as such, but not direct contact as we think of it.

That's what I've been picking up from other threads on DU, anyway

[Peacetrain]

4. It has me throughly confused..

Transmission types mutate??... I remember going through this when AIDS first came on the scene and people were talking about catching it when someone sneezed.. and it seems we are headed down that same street of panic..

[arcane1]

7. I believe the media, and even some politicians, are exploiting that confusion.

Nothing says "sit through 5 minutes of commercials" quite like "You're gonna DIE! Stayed tuned for more info" and it sickens me more than Ebola ever will

[Peacetrain]

10. Good Point!!

[JaneyVee]

11. No, viruses never mutate their mode of transmission.

[Peacetrain]

14. That is what I thought..

[bravenak]

2. We will all be dead before they finish speculating over what words to use.

[SheilaT]

3. No, that's not happening.

Diseases almost never mutate to change their form of transmission. And if Ebola were actually spread by airborne means, well millions of people would have gotten it by now.

[Peacetrain]

5. Ah Yep..

That is what I think

[kestrel91316]

16. Indeed. It would be completely out of control globally by now, and

the epidemiologic evidence would show that PPE never protected adequately unless it was the BSL-4 space suits.

[OnyxCollie]

6. When the lungs bleed and the patient coughs,

the droplets become atomized, and thus, airborne.

[kestrel91316]

15. But those droplets stay droplets. They are far too large to form an AEROSOL.

Droplets don't float on air currents. Aerosols do.

Droplets can't float into alveoli. Aerosols can.

A droplet in a mouth or nose is still just a droplet.

[OnyxCollie]

20. No, it's not weaponized anthrax were talking about here.

But if you're confident that you can walk into wake of a sneeze from a symptomatic ebola patient and not get sick, then be my guest.

[JaneyVee]

8. No, its never happened before and...

Won't happen to Ebola either.

[awake]

9. The only airborne Ebola we need to worry about is Ebola infected health care workers flying

on commercial airplanes while sick.

[magical thyme]

17. also infected Liberians flying in from Africa. nt

[awake]

18. Ok anyone infected who flies on a airliner from any where to any where.

Be Afraid Be Very Afraid!

[GusBob]

12. it would take alot of talking heads and big mouths spewing hot air

Just stay tuned

[kestrel91316]

13. Virologists say it doesn't happen and likely cannot happen. Too much of a genetic jump, no

selection pressure for a virus to do that since it spreads so spectacularly as it is.

There was a discussion of this among university virologists and maybe an epidemiologist in the mix on This Week in Virology and they covered it thoroughly. It made a believer out of me but I went and forgot the details of why it wasn't an issue.

http://www.twiv.tv/tag/ebola/

[AngryAmish]

19. Ebola Reston was most likely transmitted via the air

That one only made monkeys sick, tho.

[LeftInTX]

21. Rabies isn't "airborne", but can be transmitted via droplets in air

TWO PERSONS who entered Frio Cave, a large limestone cavern near Uvalde, Tex.,where rabid bats had been identified, subsequently died of laboratory-confirmed rabies. One death occurred in 1956, the other in 1958. Both men were reliable observers and early in their illness, while still conscious and alert, both denied knowledge of being bitten by bats or other mammals. These observations suggested the possibility of some nonbite mode of transmission of rabies, at least under the atmospheric conditions in Frio Cave or caves similarly inhabited by millions of bats.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1914752/?page=1

[Avalux]

22. It's possible if left uncontrolled in a highly populated area.

I don't see that occurring, but Ebola is a living creature and wants to survive. If given the opportunity, it may mutate to airborne.

Here's an excellent article on the topic. It's from 2009, and is based on outbreaks of a smaller scale:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3378103/