If Ebola had originated in Israel the Bam team would have locked down every avenue of connection to it but since the virus is of African origin it has been granted an amnesty with a warm welcome.
A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread
Almost any combination of mutations (because it would require more than one mutation) that enabled Ebola to survive longer in a host would make it less pathogenic, less likely to kill the host. Even if that happened, Ebola would still be a blood borne pathogen, which is not very contagious.
Ebola is dramatic, but from a pure lethality point of view, the most dangerous pathogens are those that can be transmitted through the respiratory route, aerosolize naturally, and have a low but not zero mortality rate. Measles kills about 2 or 3 per 1,000 infected—it killed over 100,000 (worldwide) in 2012. Influenza death rates vary, but it typically causes 3,000 to 50,000 deaths in the US every year. Drug resistant tuberculosis is also spreading; I don’t have the death rate of TB memorized, but it is another highly transmissible and deadly disease.
President Ebola
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/president-ebola/
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
So far the false positive rate is 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
ping...
Could the virus suddenly change itself such that it could be spread through the air?
Like measles, you mean? Luckily that is extremely unlikely. But a mutation that would allow Ebola patients to live a couple of weeks longer is certainly possible and would be advantageous for the virus. But that would allow Ebola patients to infect many, many more people than is currently the case.
There is some speculation that the Dallas patient is being kept alive on machines with the homes that he passes AFTER the election. If we are sustaining the "host" so that the parasite can live longer, that won't be good for humanity.
Also, from a different article about encouraging condom use in Africa by ebola survivors, it can remain infectious in someone's semen for up to 70 days, not just the 20 days we've been told is the hurdle to watch.