How is Ebola Actually Spread?

According to Edward Goodman who is currently an epidemiologist at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, he dismisses the long-speculated fears of Ebola spreading through the air. Unlike most diseases, you can’t catch the deadly disease of Ebola through the air, there has to be contact with a bodily fluid or the victim (Servick and Cohen).

According to a study entitled, “Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever Transmission and Risk Factors of Contacts”, conducted in 2000 through 2001, Ebola can be spread through contact of bodily fluids, but also by lesser-known ways of infection such as sharing a bed with an infected person and shaking hands (Francesconi et al.).In this study, researchers tried to find out how exactly Ebola is transmitted. Through this study, they interviewed 3 case-patients who had symptoms of Ebola. These patients were asked to tell the researchers the people who they suspected they had gotten the disease from. Then researchers asked the people who were referred to as transmitting the disease to identify who they probably got Ebola from, or their family members if the victim had already perished, This step was repeated until the researchers could no longer track back the disease. The patients were then asked about the contact they made with the infected individual. What was discovered was that contact with the infected bodily fluids was more prominent than just merely touching a bodily fluid. For example, out of 20 people interviewed, 75% made contact with the bodily fluids, 55% washed the infected person’s clothes, 90% had taken care of an ill person, 55% slept in the same house as the ill person, 30% shared meals, and 80% attended a funeral of an Ebola victim (Francesconi et al.). These statistics show that even just touching the same object as an Ebola-ridden individual; the disease could be just as easily spread as through vomit.

In addition to these seemingly harmless acts, a majority of the transmission of Ebola is occurring during funerals for victims of this disease. This is because it is ritual for people at funerals to touch the body of the dead person, wash their hands together, an eat meals together (Servick and Cohen). Unless people are more educated about this fatal disease, outbreaks are going to continuously occur because of the lack of knowledge of transmission.

Francesconi, Pablo, et al. Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever Transmission and Risk Factors of Contacts. N.p.:

n.p., 2003. Print.

Servick, Kelly, and Jon Cohen. “How Does Ebola Spread? Hard Facts from Key Studies.” Science

Insider. AAAS, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. <http://news.sciencemag.org/africa/2014/10/

how-does-ebola-spread-hard-facts-key-studies?intcmp=collection-ebola>.