Well...yes...certainly.
I know it won’t allay your fears, because frankly, I have taken a awful lot of flak trying to explain the mechanisms and timelines of Ebola Zaire specifically.
While their can be exceptions to anything, virus shedding of Zaire does not occur initially, like the flu does before you are symptomatic..
The mechanism of shedding occurs when the virus overwhelms the immune system in the host and perforates the vessel walls, leaking into the gut, eyes, mouth, and eventually the skin and organs.
By this time, the host is really, really sick.
As a example, the Dallas guy went to the hospital with abdominal pain, a low grade fever and general bad feeling illness. I am pretty sure he was not shedding yet. But when the ambulance picked him up, he was not very mobile, was tossing his lunch and was entering the late stage where shedding begins.
When the CDC and others say that a contactee on a aircraft is not a automatic risk, they are referring to what I just outlined for you. They were not trying to lie to you. A traveler who was in end stage would not likely be able to move well and would be obviously sick, and unlikely to board.
Having said that, long flights, 10 hrs or more with connections could certainly result in a infected person getting much worse during the flight. That is a real possibility so like I said, there are exceptions. And the CDC probably made a mistake when they issued that guidance early on. But I think they were not thinking of these long drawn out international flights. They were thinking domestically.
That mistake and others just recently in Texas will be used to improve responses...in the future..
I am more concerned about panic. I don’t like what I am hearing and seeing in the media and I think it’s way past time for some adults to lead and get all of the information out there for the public. Panic very well could damage our response, just as it has in Africa.
BTW...there is only one test done some time ago with some pigs and monkeys that seemed to infer that ebola could transmit via airborne. That would mean something different then aerosol. But the test showed some inconsistencies and reports for thirty years in the field do not support that conclusion either. They don’t have a single case they can show to be transmitted that way. Aerosol spray, direct contact with the body,or fluids on surfaces are all they have documented.
What you are saying is that it can transmit in the smell.
I have not seen evidence yet of that.
So that’s all I got, and it’s late, and I will now be accused of being a government shill for sure..but I’m not...
Figure 9. C1q-mediated Antibody Dependent Enhancement of Ebolavirus Infection (Model). Ebola virus initiates infection by binding to its specific receptors (top panel). C1q enables binding between the virus-antibody complex and C1q ligands on the cell surface, promoting interaction between the virus and its receptor (bottom panel). Binding of the virus via the C1q molecule increases the likelihood of viral attachment to the cell surface. (Takada et al. 2003).