Ebola mediums

[S. M. Fitzgerald]

>> The Hot Zone mentioned that there was the POSSIBILITY that
>Ebola-Reston was air-borne.  There was no proof.
>
>Wasn't there a monkey that caught it from across a room?

Joanne:

According to The Hot Zone, E. Reston IS airborne--remember that the
disease traveled through the air ducts at the Reston monkey facility,
carrying the infection from sealed room to sealed room.

Preston points out that four Reston monkey caretakers later tested
positive for E. Reston antibodies, but none became sick.  Only one had
direct exposure to contaminated body fluids, when he cut his thumb with
a knife while slicing up an infected monkey liver.  The other three had
no such exposures; it is assumed that they, like the monkeys, acquired
the disease through the air.

As to E. Zaire, which IS fatal to humans, Preston suggests that
subsequent work with monkeys revealed that the E. Zaire substrain can
be transmitted by air, at least between monkeys.  (See Hot Zone,
pp.255-256).

All best,
S. M. Fitzgerald
Cyberiot at ix.netcom.com
73330.3503 at compuserve.com