Latest Ebola news: ‘The Ebola virus may become airborne’, warns UN

The United Nations (U.N.) has warned that the Ebola virus may mutate to become airborne if the authorities fail to control the outbreak soon. Anthony Banbury, the Secretary General's Special Represen

By: Editorial Team | | Updated: October 3, 2014 3:36 pm

The United Nations (U.N.) has warned that the Ebola virus may mutate to become airborne if the authorities fail to control the outbreak soon. Anthony Banbury, the Secretary General’s Special Representative, said that the situation may be a nightmare but it cannot be ruled out. He said that the longer the virus has to mutate, the greater the chance it may become airborne, reported Metro-co.uk. Also Read - Ganesh Chaturthi 2020: 4 reasons an eco-friendly Ganesha is good for you

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Terming the Ebola disaster the ‘worst’ he had ever witnessed, he said that the international community had been late to respond to the spread of the virus and face the difficult task of curbing the disease now. The epidemic has claimed more than 3,000 lives already and the number of people infected is doubling every month. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention had earlier said that there could be as many as 1.4 million cases by January. Also Read - Ebola death toll rises to 55 in DR Congo

Why an airborne Ebola virus is very, very dangerous

The only known and confirmed mode of transmission of Ebola virus is through body fluids like blood, semen, sweat and saliva. With that mode of transmission, the virus has killed over 2,400 people in the on-going outbreak in West African countries, putting health workers at the highest risk of acquiring the infection. Imagine what would happen if the virus became airborne?

A recent research carried out by scientists at the Broad Institute in Massachusetts and Harvard University stated that the Ebola virus, currently responsible for the outbreak in West African countries, is mutating rapidly. But can it mutate to change its mode of transmission?

Can the Ebola virus become air-borne?

The fact that scientists, till date, have not been able to confirm the original reservoir of Ebola virus raises questions regarding its mode of transmission to other species. Based on earlier studies, fruits bats are considered as the natural reservoir of the virus but the involvement of other species in its transmission is still unclear.

The virus, in rare cases, has been found in respiratory secretions of infected individuals. And, this presence triggers scientific curiosity whether or not it could spread through air. To explore the possibility, Hana M. Weingartl and colleagues carried out a study, where piglets were inoculated oro-nasally with Zaire-EBOV (ZEBOV) and were transferred to a room housing macaques. The room was actually an open inaccessible cage system. After the incubation period, it was found that all macaques got infected with the virus, indicating that air-borne transmission could be one of the modes of transmission of the virus.

However, some experts believe that lab experiments may suggest such possibilities because there are numerous other factors involved. But it s less likely to become a reality. There s no denying that the virus can mutate rapidly but for it to change its mode of transmission, the kind of mutation we re expecting is quite rare. Also, there is no evidence until now, suggesting that a virus has mutated enough to change the way it infects people (or its mode of transmission). So, the possibility that the virus becomes airborne is rare. In case, Ebola does become airborne, here s what would happen:

The virus will get more opportunities to find new hosts and infect them. Just like it killed one third of the population of gorillas in the last 15 years, it would have the potential to destroy the entire human race.
It would easily spread across countries and we would have positive Ebola cases in almost all parts of the world, especially developing countries; where medical infrastructure and over-crowding is very common.
Laboratory studies dealing with Ebola virus would become even more difficult.
Considering the level of mutation the virus would undergo to become air-borne, it is quite possible that the virus would become resistant to drugs very easily.
More stringent preventive measures would be required to combat the spread.

With inputs from ANI

Image: Getty Images

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Published : October 3, 2014 3:36 pm | Updated:October 3, 2014 3:36 pm

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