soggypenny

Thanks for the quick reply and for clearing up the misconception! Just to make sure I understand I'm going to use a hypothetical scenario:

If someone infected with Ebola were to cough (uncovered) a couple feet away from me and droplets landed in my mouth or nose, then I have a high chance of contracting the virus, since that's considered direct contact, right?. I'm using this scenario since the coughing sneezing example is described specifically by the CDC for flu transmission [0] and "direct contact" is the only comparable example given by the CDC for ebola [1].

I think what people (like me) are getting tripped up on the difference between "droplets" and "bodily fluids" since it appears that droplets are bodily fluids, but bodily fluids are a lot more than just droplets.

[0] http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/spread.htm

[1] http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/transmission/

Thanks again for taking the time to do the AMA. This has been incredible useful.

Thank you doing the AMA! Is Ebola as transmittable as the flu?

I think a peak misconception (that is still unclear to me) about Ebola is just what it means for a virus to spread via "direct contact with bodily fluids" vs. "airborne". I recently read a nurse's perspective who claims that Ebola is actually transmittable as the flu (i.e. the flu is also spread via "direct contact with bodily fluids" and is not "airborne". The droplets from a cough a sneeze, though, are).

http://dtolar.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/ebola-a-nurses-perspective/

Thanks again for the AMA!