Sounds like it’s airborne to me....
Transmission to common folk, yes. Transmission to health professionals who take extreme precautions, doubtful.
“....Virus expert Charles L. Bailey, who in 1989 helped the American government tackle an outbreak of Ebola among rhesus monkeys being used for research, told the LA Times: ‘We know for a fact that the virus occurs in sputum and no one has ever done a study [disproving that] coughing or sneezing is a viable means of transmitting.....”
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-ebola-questions-20141007-story.html#page=1
“.....Dr. C.J. Peters, who battled a 1989 outbreak of the virus among research monkeys housed in Virginia and who later led the CDC’s most far-reaching study of Ebola’s transmissibility in humans, said he would not rule out the possibility that it spreads through the air in tight quarters.
“We just don’t have the data to exclude it,” said Peters, who continues to research viral diseases at the University of Texas in Galveston........”
She entered Viejo's room only twice, once to change his diaper, and a second time to remove his belongings after he died on Sept. 25.
And once again we have her symptomatic but not in hospital.
Ramos began experiencing Ebola-like symptoms on Sept. 30, but was not admitted to the hospital until Sunday, five days later.
And slight exposure, i.e. one time, she thought her suit might have touched her face...which seems like a higher risk of catching than they're saying.
not’to me.
it sounds like people can’t follow protocols 100%. if they do someone else hasn’t and you might suffer becauseof it. one surface missed. one sloppy decontamination. all it takes is one time screwing up. folowing protocols perfectly 100% of the time is impossible for imperfect people.
besides with ebola a lot of fluid can be projectd in a cough. that’ not airborne transmision like just from breathing out what’s in your lungs. it’s in the bodily fluids a patient coughs out. wet spatter. not a sneeze. liquid not particulates.
Given the prevalence of nosocomial infections both in the U.S. and abroad tells me that HCW are not following infection control protocols, or the protocols are inadequate. “ICU-acquired infection is common and often associated with microbiological isolates of resistant organisms. The potential effects on outcome emphasize the importance of specific measures for infection control in critically ill patients.(JAMA. 1995;274:639-644)”
PPE gives one a false sense of security: that exposure to infectious material or exposing someone else to infectious material can be prevented if one merely wears PPE. Nothing could be further from the truth.
IMHO, PPE is a last resort barrier. The work habits of the HCW are of equal importance: working carefully and cautiously, paying close attention to detail while working, frequent decontamination and complete decontamination prior to removal of the PPE are also critical. It only takes one mistake and the HCW is exposed, unfortunately to a far more virulent nosocomial infection.
Note: The Ebola virus need not be ‘airborne’ for the HCW in Spain to have been contaminated. Fomites on their PPE, inadequate PPE, and exposure while removing contaminated PPE are more likely modes of transmission of the infection.