Thread: Ebola

Two thoughts from reading this thread:

1) Viruses are surprisingly stable genetically. The ebola of today is virtually identical to that of the 70's. The chances of it going airborne are VERY, VERY low.

2) Ebola is a "wet virus", meaning it cannot survive for long outside of body fluids, so it does not spread easily. It requires direct transfer of infected fluids.

For these 2 reasons, talking about an ebola "pandemic" possibly being like previous flu pandemics is a false equivalent. These are two completely different viruses. Finally, this idea of "shutting down the borders" is both unreasonable and illogical. The guy who came back infected in Dallas came to the US via Germany, meaning we would have to either shut down ALL air travel, quarantine ALL travelers, or track all previous travel for EVERYONE entering the US. I think the number of people going to/from the US and foreign destinations is around 100 million/year.