Huck95

Hey Mr. Preston, thanks for doing this AMA!

I'll have several questions for you over the course of this, but I'll start out with one.

To your knowledge, has any genetic processing been done to see how closely related this particular strain of Ebola Zaire is to previous outbreaks? I know we haven't seen EZ in this region before, and I was curious as to whether it was closer to say, the Mayinga strain from '76, or the strain from Kikwit in '95, or is totally different from both of those, but still classified as Ebola Zaire. Thanks!

What do you think about this experimental serum that we heard about being used on Thursday? Something that is directly contributing to the two Americans' recovery, or not necessarily the case?

Also, are there any common lasting effects among those that manage to live through Ebola? All I've heard about is some joint problems and whatnot, but I would've expected there to be much more severe aftereffects.

"Could African Swallows be to blame?" :p

I know there was research being done in the late '80s looking into whether Ebola could be spread through the airborne route (which showed some promise), and again in 2012 it was shown that there was potential for this, while Dr. Joe McCormick staunchly disagrees with this, citing personal experience. Where do you stand on this issue?

Thanks for the insight! Have you heard from Dr. Musoke recently? It's amazing that the Hot Zone came out so long ago! (No offense, but it stands the test of time so well that it seems like it was yesterday that it came out!)