![]() When rhesus macaques were inoculated intramuscularly with Ebola virus, virus could be detected in oral and nasal swabs however infection was not transmitted to animals housed in separate cages. No animal to animal transmission experiments were done. Virus titers in the respiratory tract appeared to be lower than in the previous study. Virus replicated in the respiratory tract, and moved from regional lymph nodes to the blood and then to other organs. In another study, cynomolgous macaques, rhesus macaques, and African Green monkeys could be infected with Ebola virus aerosols using a head-only chamber. Virus particles were detected in the respiratory tract, but no attempts were made to transmit infection from one animal to another by aerosol. ![]() This procedure resulted in replication of the virus in the respiratory tract followed by death. In one study rhesus macaques were infected with aerosolized Ebola virus using a chamber placed over the animals’ heads. A human would likely be infected with an Ebola virus-containing aerosol generated by a nebulizer (theoretically such an experiment would be unethical).Ī variety of laboratory animals have been infected with Ebola virus (Zaire ebolavirus) using aerosols. In the laboratory, machines called nebulizers (which are used to administer medications to humans by inhalation) can be used to produce virus-containing aerosols for studies in animals. In other words, there is no chain of respiratory aerosol transmission among infected people, as there is with influenza virus. But the health care worker will not transmit the virus by aerosol to another person. It is possible that a health care worker could be infected by performing these procedures on a patient with Ebola virus disease. Medical procedures, like intubation, can also generate aerosols. Ebola virus can certainly be transmitted from person to person by droplets. Because these droplets are larger, they cannot travel long distances as do aerosols, and are considered a form of contact transmission. Viral transmission can also occur when virus-containing respiratory droplets travel from the respiratory tract of an infected person to mucosal surfaces of another person. Depending on their size, aerosols may travel long distances, and when inhaled they lodge on mucosal surfaces of the respiratory tract, initiating an infection. If we are infected with a respiratory virus such as influenza virus, the aerosols contain virus particles. These aerosolized particles are small enough to be inhaled into the oronasopharynx, with the smaller, respirable size ranges (eg, < 10 μm) penetrating deeper into the trachea and lung.Īll of us emit aerosols when we speak, breathe, sneeze, or cough. Particles up to 100 μm in size are considered inhalable (inspirable). What is aerosol transmission? Here is a definition from Medscape:Īerosol transmission has been defined as person-to-person transmission of pathogens through the air by means of inhalation of infectious particles. Furthermore, the mode of human to human transmission of Ebola virus is not likely to change. It does not spread among humans by respiratory aerosols, the route of transmission  of many other human viruses such as influenza virus, measles virus, or rhinovirus. As the West African epidemic of Ebola virus grows, so does misinformation about the virus, particularly how it is transmitted from person to person. Ebola virus is transmitted from human to human by close contact with infected patients and virus-containing body fluids.
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