[DouglasKC]

That statement is kind of a minimization. The Reston strain of Ebola, which is one of 5 strains, is for sure airborne. Luckily it doesn't seem to cause any symptoms in humans or else we likely would have been wiped out by now here in the US. The monkey facility in Reston where the virus was first noticed was not very clean. The monkeys that got sick in the second room in the facility could have been exposed through fomites.

It's for sure airborne. Read any account. They dissected the lungs of infected monkeys and saw that the lung material was infected with the "budding" virus...in other words, it was budding and releasing the virus into the airway.

[exDemMom]

It's for sure airborne. Read any account. They dissected the lungs of infected monkeys and saw that the lung material was infected with the "budding" virus...in other words, it was budding and releasing the virus into the airway.

I've been reading a lot of research articles, and have found no definitive evidence of aerosolization of Ebola Reston from the lungs. Some studies did find virus in the lungs--for instance, in the alveolar spaces, which this abstract said was consistent with droplet (not aerosol) transmission. (I cannot read the entire article since it is behind a paywall.) The mechanisms for forming droplets are different than for forming aerosols.

By comparison, influenza virus aerosolizes from cells of the upper respiratory system, like in the bronchia and throat. Avian influenza viruses are not contagious (or are minimally contagious) because they are limited to cells of the lower lungs, where aerosols are not generated.