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One aspect of Ebola which makes it so terrifying and also less likely to spread widely is its rapid progression and mortality rate. The detailed accounts of a

One aspect of Ebola which makes it so terrifying and also less likely to spread widely is its rapid progression and mortality rate. The detailed accounts of a person succumbing to fatal Ebola infection are horrific. But the virus' effectiveness at rapidly multiplying results in its host dying so quickly that transmission is limited. It would be interesting to see if the reduction in mortality rates (from 90% to 50% according to another poster) correlates with a greater length/breadth of the outbreak. On another note, if human strains of Ebola ever mutate for airborne transmission, we're all screwed.

ocschwar 8y ago
The thing is Ebola is evolved to have a stable impact on its host population, which is the common fruit bat. We're just collateral damage. So mutating for airborne transmission among humans is just not on the evolutionary agenda here.
- ridgeguy 8y ago
  >So mutating for airborne transmission among humans is just not on the evolutionary agenda here. Airborne transmission isn't an evolutionary agenda item. It's an evolutionary event with a non-zero probability of occurring, so far as we know. Evolution is a great mechanism based in part on the aphorism, "If it can happen, it will".