Ebola Airborne? Airborne Ebola Risk Brought to Public Attention by U.S. Army

Scientists and policy makers, including those from the World Health Organization, have previously been consistent in saying that the Ebola virus can only be transferred through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.

Even US President Barack Obama categorically said during a video message to West Africans last September that "Ebola is not spread through the air like the flu; you cannot get it from casual contact like sitting next to someone on a bus."

However, there seems to be a change in the way the wind is blowing, and that change spells out the potential for a possible airborne Ebola.

This was recently brought to public knowledge by the U.S. Army, directly contradicting Obama's stand, which is supported by Center for Disease Control Drector Thomas Friedkin.

In the Medical Management of Biological Casualties Handbook, a publication of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRID), an eyebrow-raising information on Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) -- under which category of viruses Ebola falls under -- is found on page 117.

It says: "In several instances, secondary infections among contacts and medical personnel without direct body fluid exposure have been documented. These instances have prompted concern of a rare phenomenon of aerosol transmission of infection."

The USAMRID handbook is now on in its seventh edition, with the most recent publication made in 2011. Numerous copies of the handbook have been disseminated worldwide to various health providers, both civilian and military. That is one of the reasons why it seems unlikely that the information has been ignored or suppressed.

In addition, the WHO has also come out with an advisory sent to media via email. Surprisingly, this advisory has not been given sufficient attention. According to the WHO, "Theoretically, wet and bigger droplets from a heavily infected individual, who has respiratory symptoms caused by other conditions or who vomits violently, could transmit the virus – over a short distance – to another nearby person."

That could be interpreted by some as airborne transmission.