Posted on 10/03/2014 4:31:15 AM PDT by markomalley
The UN's chief of Ebola mission Anthony Banbury said Ebola could become airborne in a 'nightmare scenario' but leading scientists have slammed his remarks saying this has never happened and suggesting it is 'irresponsible'.
Mr Banbury was speaking exclusively to the Telegraph as predictions were made that Ebola could have infected 1.4m people by January.
He said the longer the virus is in humans the greater the chance it could mutate. He said the virus being spread through the air was a 'nightmare scenario' but that it 'could not be ruled out'.
However leading British scientists have rounded on him saying his comments are a distraction and accused him of spreading panic.
Professor Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, said: "To suggest that Ebola could become airborne is completely irresponsible.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
From 2012: Growing concerns over 'in the air' transmission of Ebola
Panic’s big in Hollywood movies... and it the mind’s of people who like to keep secrets from the common people. So far this year not one person in the world has died of ‘panic’.
Why take the chance?
Suggesting Ebola will become airborne is 'Highly Prudent' say experts people with common sense.
Near as I can tell the odds of Ebola mutating to a point where it survives in aerosol is a real and substantive threat.
While it is true viruses that are primarily blood borne rarely if ever make the leap the odds change significantly if there is any history is any of it’s incarnations that it can and that is in either human or animal transmissions.
EBOLA zaire is has and will demonstrate aerosol propagation.
No virus is truly “airborne”. They just have varying degrees of survival on suspended water droplets.
We are lucky Ebola is still fragile outside the body but its range can begin to increase exponentially with even one initial mutation.
Ebola Reston was a strain that could be transmitted by air from room to room.
Thank God it was only harmful to some monkeys and not humans.
Yeah. What could go wrong trusting “experts”?
That’s the word that should be in quotes ,not irresponsible.
If it’s NOT airborne, how have SO many people gotten it?? Even a doctor on FOX said you couldn’t get it by kissing!!! I say BS.
Hello!!! What happened in Reston, VA was airborne transmission of the Marburg Ebola virus through the air handling system.
In much the same way that a month ago suggesting that it would come the the United States was “irresponsible”?
Exactly!
We are lucky Ebola is still fragile outside the body but its range can begin to increase exponentially with even one initial mutation.
A real semantics dance.
Airborne means the virus has it's own propulsion and lift-off mechanisms so it can fly to attack another host. .
Aerosol means the virus dwells inside micro-droplets of water and mucus from sneezing, coughs, and even breathing. Even the common cold virus is aerosol as is most virus.
Biology question. What makes a an airborne virus airborne?
I can’t think of any airborne virus that doesn’t use a body fluid, such as sneazing, as a medium, and ebola is in body fluid. So, why isn’t ebola just as easily spread from coughing as the common cold is? Does the ebola virus not exist in the nasal passages, throat, or lungs? I find that hard to believe.
I get the fact that likelihood of transmission goes way up when in contact with larger amounts of bodily fluids, but that is true of all viruses.
So why is ebola a special case?
Read “Hot Zone.” The original strain already HAS mutated into an airborne variant called Reston. It’s not nearly as virulent as Zaire or Marburg, but it’s Ebola all the same.
By the way, it got its name from the city in Virginia where the mutation occurred. And escaped.
That’s right. Virginia.
Exactly. What happened in Reston if it can't possibly be transmitted by droplets? And how do health workers contract the disease wearing biohazard suits?
Think the academic "experts" might believe that it is their mission to keep the sheeple from panicking? So a few "white lies" are okay.
A little bit of panic might motivate the Obama administration to do more than they are doing -- which at this point effectively amounts to nothing. I don't believe that Ebola is terribly contagious, but it certainly deserves more of a containment effort than it's getting.
IRRESPONSIBLE IS NOT GROUNDING FLIGHTS IN AND OUT OF THESE AFRICAN HOT ZONES!!!
Irresponsible is inviting third world people to come unrestricted in to the USA.
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