Sunday 22 February 2015

Two tales of the same review...

Could these articles about a recent review on Ebola virus transmission be any more different?

Which do you "believe"?

Limited airborne transmission of Ebola is ‘very likely,’ new analysis says Post
From the Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/02/19/limited-airborne-transmission-of-ebola-is-likely-new-study-says/


No, A New Scientific Report Does Not Say That Ebola Is Now Airborne
From Vice News
https://news.vice.com/article/no-a-new-scientific-report-does-not-say-that-ebola-is-now-airborne

The article being referred to is from a team of "Ebola experts" and is entitled: 
Transmission of Ebola Viruses: What We Know and What We Do Not Know.
http://mbio.asm.org/content/6/2/e00137-15

At this juncture might I just add that I do not consider myself a real Ebola virus disease (EVD) expert. I'm just an interested scientist who blogs about Ebola virus and the most recent outbreaks and epidemic. To be an expert, at least in my opinion, one would have to have one or more of the following under one's belt:
  • to have conducted experiments on the Ebola virus and written those up in the scientific literature
  • to have generated data from other derivative works with parts of the virus, such as in vaccine works, and written those up
  • to have treated or cared for patients with Ebola virus disease (EVD)
  • to have worked in a public health capacity managing an outbreak of EVD
The rest of us are interested parties but will likely always miss some aspect of understanding the virus and its disease having not been in close contact with it, its hosts or the response to it.

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