What do these findings mean? First and foremost, Ebola is not suddenly an airborne disease. As expert commentators at ProMED stated, the experiments “demonstrate the susceptibility of pigs to Zaire Ebolavirus and that the virus from infected pigs can be transmitted to macaques under experimental conditions… they fall short of establishing that this is a normal route of transmission in the natural environment.” Furthermore, because human Ebola outbreaks have historically been locally contained, it is unlikely that Ebola can spread between humans via airborne transmission.Of course, the fear is a new virulent strain of Ebola that could be transmitted airborne or by other means.
The relatively fast spread of the current outbreak means most of what they know about transmission is out the window. Also the patient at Emory was/is suppose to be an expert on ebola. Why have over 100 health care workers - trained and briefed - gotten the disease? Because it has mutated and may well have gone airborne.