Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 Feb 19;6(2):e00137.
doi: 10.1128/mBio.00137-15.

Transmission of Ebola viruses: what we know and what we do not know

Michael T Osterholm  1 , Kristine A Moore  2 , Nicholas S Kelley  2 , Lisa M Brosseau  3 , Gary Wong  4 , Frederick A Murphy  5 , Clarence J Peters  5 , James W LeDuc  5 , Phillip K Russell  6 , Michel Van Herp  7 , Jimmy Kapetshi  8 , Jean-Jacques T Muyembe  8 , Benoit Kebela Ilunga  9 , James E Strong  4 , Allen Grolla  4 , Anja Wolz  7 , Brima Kargbo  10 , David K Kargbo  10 , David Avram Sanders  11 , Gary P Kobinger  4
Affiliations
Review

Transmission of Ebola viruses: what we know and what we do not know

Michael T Osterholm et al. mBio. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Available evidence demonstrates that direct patient contact and contact with infectious body fluids are the primary modes for Ebola virus transmission, but this is based on a limited number of studies. Key areas requiring further study include (i) the role of aerosol transmission (either via large droplets or small particles in the vicinity of source patients), (ii) the role of environmental contamination and fomite transmission, (iii) the degree to which minimally or mildly ill persons transmit infection, (iv) how long clinically relevant infectiousness persists, (v) the role that "superspreading events" may play in driving transmission dynamics, (vi) whether strain differences or repeated serial passage in outbreak settings can impact virus transmission, and (vii) what role sylvatic or domestic animals could play in outbreak propagation, particularly during major epidemics such as the 2013-2015 West Africa situation. In this review, we address what we know and what we do not know about Ebola virus transmission. We also hypothesize that Ebola viruses have the potential to be respiratory pathogens with primary respiratory spread.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. WHO 2014. Ebola virus disease: fact sheet. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/.
    1. Maganga GD, Kapetshi J, Berthet N, Kebela Ilunga BK, Kabange F, Kingebeni P, Mondonge V, Muyembe JJ, Bertherat E, Briand S, Cabore J, Epelboin A, Formenty P, Kobinger G, González-Angulo L, Labouba I, Manuguerra J-C, Okwo-Bele J-M, Dye C, Phil D, Leroy EM. 2014. Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo. N Engl J Med 371:2083–2091. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1411099. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Miranda ME, Ksiazek TG, Retuya TJ, Khan AS, Sanchez A, Fulhorst CF, Rollin PE, Calaor AB, Manalo DL, Roces MC, Dayrit MM, Peters CJ. 1999. Epidemiology of Ebola (subtype Reston) virus in the Philippines, 1996. J Infect Dis 179(Suppl):S115–S119. - PubMed
    1. Kuhn JH, Becker S, Ebihara H, Geisbert TW, Johnson KM, Kawaoka Y, Lipkin WI, Negredo AI, Netesov SV, Nichol ST, Palacios G, Peters CJ, Tenorio A, Volchkov VE, Jahrling PB. 2010. Proposal for a revised taxonomy of the family Filoviridae: classification, names of taxa and viruses, and virus abbreviations. Arch Virol 155:2083–2103. doi: 10.1007/s00705-010-0814-x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Miranda ME, Miranda NL. 2011. Reston ebolavirus in humans and animals in the Philippines: a review. J Infect Dis 204(Suppl 3):S757–S760. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jir296. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms