Contagion Blast Radius: How Far Can Ebola Droplets Travel?

This information has been contributed by Tess Pennington, author of The Prepper’s Blueprint and The Prepper’s Cookbook. After joining the Dallas chapter of the American Red Cross in 1999 Tess worked as an Armed Forces Emergency Services Center specialist and is well versed in emergency and disaster management & response. You can visit her web site at www. ReadyNutrition.com. sneeze-cloud
Germs are spread quickly in population dense areas. Schools and daycares, workplaces, community events are germ-ridden cesspools for attracting unwanted illness and diseases. Studies are finding that sneezes and coughs cause illnesses to travel much farther than originally estimated. With the concern of flu season, as well as the heightened awareness of Ebola, it is crucial to have an understanding of germs and how quickly they can travel in a community setting. How Far Reaching Are Germs?
Many are concerned that Ebola could go airborne. Technically, this virus can only be spread through bodily fluids. The virus spreads when saliva, mucous, blood, vomit, feces, or other bodily fluids of an infected person come into contact with someone else’s mucus membranes. The emphasis on this is it has to be a symptomatic infected person.
One virologist, Alan Schmaljohn at the University of Maryland School of Medicinewas asked if Ebola was airborne and states, ‘With Ebola, large droplets – which neither travel very far nor hang in the air for long – are the real risk factors. That means an Ebola-infected person would likely have to cough or sneeze up blood or other bodily fluids directly in your face for you to catch the virus, Schmaljohn says. If that drop of blood doesn’t land on your face, it will just fall to the ground. It won’t be swimming in the air, waiting to be breathed in by an unsuspecting passerby.’ Source

This post was published at shtfplan on October 2nd, 2014 / Ready Nutrition.