That image of this long virus that causes death in over half the people it infects – and now the major worry: what happens if this virus mutates so that it would become airborne. Here is the good news: it cannot happen.
The virus by nature is a rather long, and unstable protein shell surrounded by RNA. It is highly primative in nature- which makes it efficient. When it infects someone the body reacts to Ebola by trying to isolate it. The virus infects cells of the immune system, called macrophages, it also infects more primitive cells that line the blood vessels. The virus takes over the machinery of the cell and makes that cell into a virus replicating factory. The cell replicates virus after virus until the cell is so full that the virus ruptures into the blood stream.
These virus particles are a foreign protein and the protein particles are captured by the proteins in the blood – in a fibrin matrix. Essentially the blood begins to clot from the virus particle. Some of those particles form crystals – which are called “bricks.” Those crystals are a combination of blood clot factors and lots of virus particles. This entire process sets off a cascade of clotting in the body’s attempt to isolate the virus. There is a limited number of clotting factors that can be used up and then the patient begins to bleed out of anywhere there is a small cut – even a small ulceration in the gut. As more virus is produced, more cells turned into virus factories that rupture into the blood stream – more clotting factors used up to isolate it, and more bleeding happens.
Patients with Ebola bleed everywhere- they have fevers, diarrhea, vomiting, and bleeding from almost every bruise. It is a horrific death. But all those body fluids- especially the blood- contains lots of virus particles.
Those bricks contain lots of Ebola and it only takes 5-10 of those virus particles to become infected. When a person becomes ill those bricks are the vehicle to infect a person. That blood can come out of the lungs, the blood that happens when a patient with Ebola vomits, out of bleeding from under the skin, or blood in urine, or blood in diarrhea.
When people become sick with Ebola they become very sick, very quickly. When they are contagious they are very sick – not just the sneeze on an airplane.
That is how Ebola is transmitted. But if that brick particle isn’t in blood the proteins break down within seconds and the virus is not able to function.
The virus particle is, by virus standards, a large protein particle that surrounds the DNA. When exposed to air the particle breaks down and the RNY is quickly inactivated by native RNAase enzymes that are present everywhere.
So when someone talks about the virus mutating to where it can be transmitted by air- it simply cannot happen. Why? Because the protein particle surrounding the RNA of Ebola must be in a salt water solution or it breaks down and can no longer infect. Could that change- no.
Influenza is airborne – it can survive for hours when the particle is dry – meaning if someone sneezes on a surface it will be present there and able to cause an infection. When influenza mutates it is the protein core that mutates so that the protein that presents to the immune system is different- meaning the vaccine will not work as well.
Media will sensationalize airborne, misquote scientists, but the physics of the Ebola protein particle is clear: it cannot survive out of the wet environment.
Check your reading glasses – do you see fingerprints? Do you remember how they got there? That is how that wet particle can get into your body – that is how you take off a protected suit improperly and with a tiny wet particle have enough virus to infect. It won’t happen when someone sneezes on you.
So chill out. Get a flu vaccine.
