The World Health Organization (WHO) has clarified that Ebola virus transmission does not occur through airborne droplets. According to a statement released on May 21 at the Russian office of the WHO, infection can only happen through direct contact with blood or body fluids of an infected person or deceased individual, or via contaminated objects and surfaces.
The WHO reiterated: “You can get the virus from another person only through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a patient or deceased from Ebola, or through objects or surfaces contaminated with body fluids (such as blood, feces, vomit).”
On May 20, epidemiologist Gennady Onishchenko, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, described Ebola symptoms. Initial manifestations include fever, weakness, and muscle pain, followed by a two to 21-day incubation period. Patients then experience diarrhea, abdominal pain, dry cough, and dehydration.
Dr. Onishchenko noted that approximately half of patients develop hemorrhagic rash and bleeding from the gums and nose, with liver and kidney failure occurring in severe cases.
Earlier on May 20, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported that suspected Ebola deaths had reached 139. The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda was declared an international emergency by WHO on May 15.
