Quentin Tarantino vs. Ebola: It Still Isn't Airborne

There are a number of articles making the rounds that claim that there is now an airborne version of the Ebola virus.  I want to set the record straight on this because misinformation tends to spread a lot faster than the actual facts.  The good news is that those articles are all, for lack of a better term, full of shit.  Let me state it in one simple, easy to read sentence with relatively small words:

Ebola is NOT passed on through the air. 

Viruses just don't seem to ever change their primary mode of infection like that.  There has never been a case of this happening and, as I mentioned in a previous post, it is unlikely that this will ever happen.  Ebola is not an airborne virus. 

What is likely happening here is that someone reads a sentence that says, at least in part, "...a germ like Ebola gets passed on via larger, wet droplets..." and they freak right out, completely ignoring the rest of the article which states, in no uncertain terms, that Ebola is not airborne.  They then do some quick "logical" thinking along the lines of:

1.  Ebola virus can be passed through droplets of fluid
2.  Fluid droplets are in the air after someone vomits or coughs
3.  Droplets in the air = airborne virus
4.  Panic

Now, to be fair, it is possible that the people who are writing those articles are simply misunderstanding basic facts. To be even more fair it is possible that they are trying to share their new found knowledge with people in the hopes of making the world a better place.  Both of these things are possible, but, unfortunately, it doesn't really matter.  This is the kind of thing that incites panic rather than makes things better.

For a virus to be airborne it has to be able to form protective little clusters that allow it to survive in the air while it floats around.  Viruses like this totally suck and can be serious problems because simply being in a room with someone who is sick can be enough to infect you.  By contrast, to get infected with Ebola you have to get those fluid droplets into your body which means you have to be within a few feet of an infected person.  Blood and other body fluids don't fly in the air forever.  Just watch the fight scene where The Bride fights all those bad guys in Kill Bill vol 1 (NSFW).  Even when blood is at its most Quentin Tarantino-y, flying through the air in mass quantities, it is still a fluid and thus will obey gravity.  It eventually falls, typically within 3 or 4 feet of the patient, and thus becomes floor-borne.  

Everyone repeat after me:  To get Ebola, you must get body fluids into your body.  Unless you are a health care worker who is actively treating patients with Ebola, your chances of getting the disease hover right around zero.  You would be more likely to be struck by lightening while winning the lottery.