The Reston Ebola strain did not affect humans, just monkeys, but it did infect by airborne means. It never infected any of the dozen or so people who worked there caring for the monkeys. These workers wore no special protective gear (other than what was needed to protect against monkey bites), and they carried monkey carcasses and cleaned the cages of the dead monkeys.
The question is whether the current human-affecting virus share the Reston strain's ability to float on air currents. The evidence suggests that it does.
I would certainly treat it as if it does, considering the high risk involved.
Untrue. One of the Reston monkey handlers tested positive for Ebola Reston antibodies... but he was asymptomatic.
They didn’t know all that until after they closed and dosed the lab. The Hot Zone was breached and that’s what scared them. All these bad acting viruses were in there; not just the Zaire monkey killer. Why is another question. I’m sure the residents of Reston Va. weren’t consulted.
True but some did seroconvert check thisEbola viruses (EBOV) cause often fatal hemorrhagic fever in several species of simian primates including human. While fruit bats are considered natural reservoir, involvement of other species in EBOV transmission is unclear. In 2009, Reston-EBOV was the first EBOV detected in swine with indicated transmission to humans. In-contact transmission of Zaire-EBOV (ZEBOV) between pigs was demonstrated experimentally. Here we show ZEBOV transmission from pigs to cynomolgus macaques without direct contact. Interestingly, transmission between macaques in similar housing conditions was never observed. Piglets inoculated oro-nasally with ZEBOV were transferred to the room housing macaques in an open inaccessible cage system. All macaques became infected. Infectious virus was detected in oro-nasal swabs of piglets, and in blood, swabs, and tissues of macaques. This is the first report of experimental interspecies virus transmission, with the macaques also used as a human surrogate. Our finding may influence prevention and control measures during EBOV outbreaks..