How contagious is Ebola? CDC documentation compares the virus to the COVID delta variant

Concerns about Delta variant threat Raised after an internal document from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Revealed details about the variant, including a comparison with Ebola.

by Confidential CDC document published on ThursdayObtained by Washington post, Delta variants are more contagious than the viruses that cause Ebola and the viruses that cause MERS, SARS, smallpox, seasonal flu, and the common cold.

What is Ebola?

Ebola is a virus that causes Ebola virus disease (EVD). The CDC explains that fatal diseases most commonly affect not only humans, but also non-human primates such as monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees.

According to the World Health Organization, the virus infects humans from wildlife such as bats, porcupines, and non-human primates.

According to the CDC, the disease “may occur primarily on the African continent.”

This is caused by infection by a group of viruses within the genus Ebolavirus. According to the Federal Health Organization, only four of these viruses cause illness in people: Ebola virus, Sudan virus, Taï Forest ebola virus, and Bundibugyo virus.

How contagious is Ebola?

Virus infectivity can be explained by the epidemiological indicator, basic reproduction number (R0). Therefore, a R0 value of 1 for a virus means that each infected person spreads the virus to one additional person.

According to a study published by a peer-reviewed journal Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) 2018 published on the CDC website, “This basic metric is not simple, so R0 must be carefully estimated, reported, and applied.”

This metric can be affected by a variety of biological, social behavioral and environmental factors that affect the transmission of pathogens. “therefore, [it] R0 is easily misrepresented, misinterpreted, and misapplied because it is usually estimated using different types of complex mathematical models. “ EID According to research.

“R0 is not a measure of the biological constants of pathogens, the rate over time, or the severity of the disease and cannot be modified through vaccination campaigns … Some R0s reported in the scientific literature. The value is probably obsolete. ” EID The study warned.

according to Study published by New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) August 2016, “Basic reproduction number R0 retained at the start of the epidemic and prior to intervention” was estimated to be in the range 1.71 to 2.02 in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. This range was reported to be similar to estimates from previous small-scale outbreaks of Ebola in Central Africa (Sudan and Zaire species, 1.3-4.7).

NS NEJM The study explains: “Large fluctuations in the magnitude of outbreaks across Africa appear to be dominated by epidemic growth periods and the size of the at-risk population, not primarily by R0 differences.

“In any case, the magnitude of West Africa’s R0 estimates calculated in the early stages of the epidemic showed that a sustained reduction in infections of more than 50% (ie, more than double) was sufficient. Eliminate infections from human populations. Eliminating Ebola virus from human populations, even during an epidemic, is a viable goal. ” NEJM According to research.

Is Ebola in the air?

In an April 2015 article, the CDC states that Ebola is not levitation and is unlikely to mutate and levitate.

The federal agency explains:

“For millions of years, the virus sometimes mutates to change the way it spreads. For Ebola, this will require multiple mutations in the virus over a very long period of time,” the CDC said. rice field.

How does Ebola spread?

NS WHO He explained that Ebola spreads to humans through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs, and other body fluids of infected people (such as semen) and the surfaces and substances of bedding and clothing contaminated with these body fluids. I am.

The CDC adds that the virus can also spread through direct contact with infected bats and non-human primates such as apes and monkeys.

“The virus can remain in certain body fluids, including the semen of patients who have recovered from EVD, even if the symptoms of the serious illness disappear. Ebola can spread throughout gender,” the federal agency said. No evidence, or other contact with vaginal fluid from a woman suffering from Ebola hemorrhagic fever. “

How did Ebola begin?

According to the CDC, scientists do not know where the Ebola virus came from, but it was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Since then, it has “occasionally” infected people and caused outbreaks in some African countries, the CDC said.

According to the WHO, the virus was the earliest outbreak in a remote village in Central Africa near the rainforest. According to WHO, “The 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa was the largest and most complex outbreak of Ebola since the virus was first discovered in 1976. This outbreak combines all other outbreaks. There were more cases and deaths than there were. “

Since its discovery in 2015, the CDC stated that Ebola is “a stable virus with a relatively constant mutation rate.”

“Scientists monitoring the virus have not seen evidence that the Ebola virus may be mutated to be more contagious or more easily spread,” the CDC added.

Wider image

The coronavirus has infected more than 196.6 million people since it was first reported in Wuhan, China, including more than 34.7 million in the United States. As of Friday, more than 4.1 million people have died worldwide and more than 4 billion COVID-19 vaccines have been given. According to Johns Hopkins University.

The figure below is StatistaShows the 7-day average of the COVID-19 vaccine dose administered and the percentage of the fully vaccinated US population.