Ebola can be transmitted a lot easier than health officials previously admitted, according to a fresh report by the New York Post. It can even be contracted by contact with a doorknob previously sneezed upon by an infected individual, even one hour after it happened. According to Dr. Meryl Nass, expert at the Institute for Public Accuracy in Washington, an infected person sneezing spreads microorganisms all over the environment, and if others touch them, they can become infected as well.
The specialist pointed out that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has released this information on its website, but with not much fuss around it. According to Dr. Nass, “droplet spread happens when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose or mouth of another person”, so, when the CDC stated that Ebola does not spread at all by air, they were disseminating incorrect information. These droplets sneezed from a sick person can get on items around them, and touching these can spread the disease. According to Dr. Rossi Hassad, professor of epidemiology at the Mercy College, these droplets can stay active for a variable time, depending on their environment. Those landing on dry surfaces stay active for less time, up to one hour or more, while those in a moist, damp environment even longer. The CDC did not respond yet to these claims.
In the meantime the World Health Organization (WHO) has possibly identified the “patient zero” of this year’s West African Ebola outbreak. Apparently the first patient to contract the disease was a two-year old boy, Emile Ouamonuo, living in a small village in Guinea. The boy fell ill last December. After the disease took his life, one of his three sisters showed the signs of the disease, followed by the children’s pregnant mother and grandmother.