Re: [DIYbio] DIYbio against Ebola!

On Thursday, October 2, 2014 4:40:30 AM UTC-7, ­­Alex P wrote:

I have a very low amount of knowledge about viruses but isn't it entirely possible for it to mutate to be transmitted through the air?

Good question, and this is actually something that there is a lot of fearmongering around. In fact, this same question came up back in the day when we had just learned about HIV as well!

The Ebola virus is actually very unstable, and does not seem able to survive in the high-oxygen, low-moisture environment that you find in the tiny aerosol droplets that are able to float in the air. It's not totally understood what mechanisms are involved to allow viruses to survive in aerosols (or on surfaces, for that matter), but all evidence suggest that this is a very non-trivial change.

In fact, there are NO known examples of a natural virus switching from a different transmission route to being transmissible by aerosol! That's not just "it's never been seen in other Ebola outbreaks" - this has never been seen in ANY virus.

(The gain-of-function experiments with H5N1 flu in ferrets don't really count here. Most flu strains are transmissible through the air, so we already know that they have the mechanisms to do so. And even then it took several rounds of literally stuffing the virus into ferret's lungs for it to become adapted to its new host species. Oh, and it actually stopped making the ferrets sick once it evolved to be able to infect them through the air, suggesting there is soem significant cost associated for the virus.)

Here are some excellent resources about Ebola:

• Is Ebola virus going to kill me? - If you're asking that question, this is for you.

• TWiV 297: Ebola! Don't panic, and TWiV 302: The sky is falling - two outstanding episodes of Patrik's favorite hard-core science podcast, This Week in Virology. Also contains tons of useful links.

• CDC page on 2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa 

• WHO page on Ebola Virus Disease

Patrik

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