[dwa3592]

>>Outbreaks between people start when somebody catches Ebola from an infected animal

>>It spreads through infected bodily fluids, such as blood and vomit.

Can someone please educate me on how ebola is spreading? are these 100 deaths because of virus transmission from infected animals or from humans? if from humans - then how is it spreading given that it spreads via blood and vomit.

[traceroute66]

> Can someone please educate me on how ebola is spreading? are these 100 deaths because of virus transmission from infected animals or from humans?

Human to human.

Its not only "blood and vomit", it is any bodily fluid, so you also have sweat, saliva, breast milk and semen.

So you therefore have bedding, clothing, or medical equipment soiled with infected fluids.

And preparation of the body after death.

Bearing in mind viral load (concentration of Ebola in bodily fluids) is often high, so it does not take much.

In addition, delayed diagnosis is not uncommon.

Access to and adherence to infection control can easily be a problem.

So, in essence you have various routes to amplification of spread.

[JumpCrisscross]

> * how is it spreading given that it spreads via blood and vomit*

Note that this isn’t the Zaire ebolavirus. We’re still pinning down specifics.

[mschuster91]

> then how is it spreading given that it spreads via blood and vomit.

Water, mostly. Bad sanitation is one of the major drivers behind most if not all epidemics. If you don't have clean water to drink because your wells are contaminated with fecal matter, you're screwed. The sick contaminate the environment for everyone else.

[mordechai9000]

A handful get infected from direct exposure to animals. Then it spreads to family and others in the community. Sometimes people travel and bring it to a new location. Sadly, it is often the caregivers who get infected.

[dwa3592]

thanks for the explanations. BBC's line is so confusing; i thought semen and breast milk would be the key reasons but they wrote 'bodily fluids such as blood and vomit' and I just couldn't figure out how it was transmitting through vomit.

[throwatdem12311]

Look up “African dry sex”. Sorry.