# It's official: Obama isn't taking the ebola threat seriously. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589 "2014-10-17T15:35:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/181 "2014-10-30T00:16:29Z")
You know what, **Magiver?** I’m tired of your distortions, your outright lies about what I’ve posted, and your hysteria. Cling to that fear you love so much. I don’t understand WHY you want to be so afraid, but clearly you do. I’m going back to my life. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/182 "2014-10-30T00:21:50Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > It doesn’t spread fast at all, and no-one’s changed their story. It is only transmitted by bodily fluids, and you are only likely to catch it if you are messing in an infected person’s puke and shit. If someone who’s not currently shitting out their digestive system coughs on you, nothing will happen. > > The idea that you could catch Ebola from dried snot is as absurd as the idea that you could catch HIV from toilet seats. It’s exactly the same scaremongering lies that were told about that disease. They are equally hard to catch, the difference is someone’s infectious with Ebola for days, but with HIV for, potentially, decades. [From Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease): The virus spreads by direct contact with blood or other body fluids of an infected human or other animal.[1] Infection with the virus may also occur by direct contact with a recently contaminated item or surface. [From the CDC:](http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/exposure/index.html) The virus also can be spread through contact with objects (like clothes, bedding, needles, syringes/sharps or medical equipment) that have been contaminated with the virus. [World Health Organization:](http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/) Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids. People remain infectious as long as their blood and body fluids, including semen and breast milk, contain the virus. Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/183 "2014-10-30T00:40:34Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Are you worried that someone with AIDS will cough on you and infect you? If not, why are you worried about that with Ebola - a disease that has infected orders of magnitude less people, and is equally not airborne. As I stated before, I was never worried about getting AIDS. I was worried about it spreading and killing hundreds of thousands of people. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/184 "2014-10-30T03:35:12Z")
Let’s understand that the distinction between a disease that it truly “airborne” has the term has been used in discussion of Ebola and a disease that is spread by aerosol may be splitting hairs. [Studies](http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/flu/transmission.html#2)involving the spread of infectious agents in aerosol droplets found that after a simulated patient manikin “coughed” the aerosol was spread throughout the room in 5-10 minutes. N95 respirator masks reduced, but did not eliminate, aerosol droplet exposure levels to a simulate healthcare worker manikin even when the respirator mask was sealed to the manikin skin. Samples using live influenza virus showed live virus spread in a similar fashion to the simulated aerosol. The lesson: Walk into a room of a patient who coughed more than 5-10 minutes ago and live virus aerosol is already spread throughout the room. One of the most common respirator masks used still allows passage of aerosol borne virus particles. But there is a reasonable hypothesis as to why Ebola apparently spreads less frequently by an aerosol route as compared to influenza. Coughing and sneezing are relatively common symptoms of influenza but are not common symptoms of Ebola. As to survival of the Ebola virus outside the body… From Marburg and Ebola Viruses as Aerosol Threats, as published in Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense strategy, practice, and Science Volume 2, Number 3, 2004 > [@](#): > > Studies have shown that filoviruses are relatively stable in aerosols, retain virulence after lyophilization, and can persist for long periods on contaminated surfaces. For those who might not be aware, Ebola is a filovirus. And can Ebola really be spread by aerosol means? It definitely can in animal studies and there is evidence of same from prior outbreaks in humans. (Same cite as above) I went to Burger King for lunch. Was that liquid left on the table droplets of condensation from a prior guest’s soda or did they sneeze? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589/185 "2014-10-30T05:39:13Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > As I stated before, I was never worried about getting AIDS. I was worried about it spreading and killing hundreds of thousands of people. If Ebola keeps spreading like it is in the US, this could be our nation’s fate, by year 100,2014! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-obama-isnt-taking-the-ebola-threat-seriously/701589.md?page=9)