Obama is wrong. You can catch Ebola by sitting next to someone.

[Flopper]

Obama says that you can't catch Ebola by setting next to someone on the bus. He is wrong. I have heard Obama say some stupid things, but this time his ignorance may cause people to die and I have a duty to respond.

Let's start with what everyone knows or should know. Ebola is spread by body fluids and saliva is a body fluid. Whenever a person sneezes or coughs, small droplets of germ-filled saliva are projected. If a person with Ebola rides a bus, a single sneeze or cough can contaminate those in close proximity.

However, the reality is much worse than many people think. It appears that a single cough or sneeze can contaminate an entire room, or an entire bus!

“Sneezes emit a disgusting gas cloud full of germs that linger in the air and spread throughout a much greater area than previously realized, according to a study from MIT.

“The video above uses high-speed imaging to show how far some droplets travel after a sneeze. While a large percentage stay clustered together, smaller droplets travel off-screen before the video even ends.”

“The images of coughs and sneezes revealed that small droplets could travel dramatically farther than previously estimated.

“If you ignored the presence of the gas cloud, your first guess would be that larger drops go farther than the smaller ones, and travel at most a couple of meters,” said John Bush, a professor of applied mathematics at MIT, in a press release. “We have shown that there’s a circulation within the cloud — the smaller drops can be swept around and re-suspended … Basically, small drops can be carried a great distance by this gas cloud while the larger drops fall out.

“Researchers found that some of the smallest droplets — as small as 10 millionths of a meter in diameter — can travel 200 times farther than previously estimated.

"According to the previous physical picture, no drops would travel more than a couple of meters," Bush told weather.com. "According to our revised physical picture, small drops can be resuspended by the gas cloud, and so easily span the entirety of a room" (Emphasis my own).

Sneezed Germs Travel HOW Far - weather.com

Although the above article covers just coughing and sneezing, it is obvious that even talking can spread the Ebola virus the same way.

“Flu germs spread from person to person by way of coughing, sneezing or simply talking. That's because droplets from an infected person get into the air and are inhaled by people nearby. Anyone within three feet can easily be infected. Flu germs also are spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs, and then touches their eyes, nose or mouth. Flu germs can live for hours on surfaces like doorknobs, desks and tables. Too bad they don't glow green, so we could see them, and avoid coming in contact with them! But be aware—they're there. Fortunately, there are ways to avoid them.”

This is How Germs Spread... It s Sickening

If you put your hand in front of your mouth and cough or sneeze you will feel a current of air that will spread the virus far and wide. If you put your hand in front of your mouth and talk, you will feel the same air current, especially when you say the words with the letter “T” and “P”.

Now I will tell you how easy it is to get Ebola from a fellow bus rider. First, the stricken rider sneezes spreading a virus-laden moisture cloud that spreads throughout the bus. Then another passenger inhales the virus and becomes a victim; or he simply touches a surface that has been contaminated and then touches his mouth, picks his nose or rubs his eyes.

This is the worst part: The Ebola virus remains alive outside a host for a period of severa days. This means that all those who ride in the same bus long after the diseased passenger has long departed are in danger of being infected. This is serious stuff, folks.

“SURVIVAL OUTSIDE HOST: The virus can survive in liquid or dried material for a number of days. Infectivity is found to be stable at room temperature or at 4°C for several days, and indefinitely stable at -70°C. Infectivity can be preserved by lyophilisation” (footnote numbers removed to avoid confusion).

Infectious Disease Index - Ebola virus MSDSonline

Note: For those skeptics who don't believe that Ebola can be transmitted through saliva, consider the following excerpt form an article in The Journal of Infectious Diseases::

“Clinical specimens. Fifty-four specimens from 26 patients, 12 (46%) of whom died, were collected (table 1). Sixteen clinical specimens from 12 patients were positive by virus culture (4 specimens) and/or RT-PCR (16 specimens), including saliva (8 of 16), skin swab (1 of 11), stool (2 of 4), semen (1 of 2), breast milk (2 of 2), tears (1 of 1), and nasal blood (1 of 1). No virus was found in urine (0 of 11), vomit (0 of 2), sputum (0 of 2), sweat (0 of 1), or the body louse (0 of 1). Three of the 16 positive specimens (2 saliva and 1 nasal blood) visibly contained blood.”



Assessment of the Risk of Ebola Virus Transmission from Bodily Fluids and Fomites

Conclusion: Obama says you can't get Ebola by sitting next to someone on a bus. Obama is wrong and those who believe him may unknowingly place themselves in danger. Personally, when it comes to the spread of Ebola, I think Obama knows better but he's lying his ass off to keep panic from spreading and from causing people to avoid public transportation. Either way, what he says in untrue.

The full quote is:
“First, Ebola is not spread through the air like the flu,” Obama said in the video released by the White House Thursday. “You cannot get it through casual contact like sitting next to someone one a bus. You cannot get it from another person until they start showing symptoms of the disease, like fever.”

Obama also said that “the most common way you can get Ebola is by touching the body fluids of someone who is sick or has died from it, like their sweat, saliva or blood, or through a contaminated item like a needle.”

He is correct unless you pull the sentence out of context as you have done. You will not get Ebola just by sitting next to someone and breathing the same air they breath. The virus is not spread through the air; that is if you breath the air from an infected person, you will not get Ebola. However, you certainly can get it if that person sneezes and the body fluids in the sneeze enter your body.

It's important to understand the difference between body fluids containing the virus being carried in a sneeze and a virus being spread through the air. An airborne virus such as influenza can be spread through air ducts and by a breeze over long distances. Ebola can not be spread in this manner. It depends on body fluids for transfer.

A mask can be very effective at preventing body fluids in a sneeze or cough from entering the body. Masks are not very effective at stopping airborne viruses.

Americans should be much more concerned about the Enterovirus D-68 and influenza than Ebola. The Enterovirus is now in 46 states. Influenza kills about 38,000 people a year in the US.