The Science Is Settled – Except When It’s Not… Scientists Say Ebola Virus May Incubate More Than 21 Days

Scientists say there are still many unanswered question crucial to preventing an outbreak.
The Ebola virus may incubate for more than 21 days.
Reuters reported:

Even as government officials express confidence that researchers know the key facts about Ebola, many questions crucial to preventing an outbreak in the United States remain unanswered, scientists told a workshop at the National Academy’s Institute of Medicine in Washington on Monday.

Virtually all the unknowns have practical consequences, participants emphasized, making it foolish and perhaps dangerous to base policy on weak science.

For instance, virologists believe that Ebola is spread when people come in contact with the virus-laden bodily fluids of those who are already sick and then touch their eyes, nose or mouth, allowing the virus to pass through mucous membranes and enter the bloodstream.

But penetration through intact skin has not been definitively ruled out, said hemorrhagic-fever expert Thomas Ksiarek of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), who co-led a session on Ebola’s transmission routes.

“Does bleach or hand sanitizer,” which people in West Africa are using to protect themselves from Ebola, “make the skin more susceptible” to being penetrated by the virus?, Peters wondered. “It’s a question that has to be asked.”

Another crucial question is whether the virus can be spread by people who do not show symptoms. For months public health officials in the United States and elsewhere have insisted it cannot.

But the possibility of such “subclinical transmission” remains very much open, said Dr. Andrew Pavia, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah.

Nor do experts know whether the infectious dose of virus depends on how it enters the body, Pavia said.

Also unknown is whether the time between exposure to Ebola and the appearance of symptoms depends on which bodily fluids someone contacted. If it does, then someone exposed through, say, saliva rather than blood might incubate the virus for longer than the 21 days officials have repeatedly said is the outer limit of the incubation period.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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