Ebola Outbreak Boosts Odds of Mutation Helping It Spread
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The diagnosis of Ebola in a second health worker in Texas raises questions about how well researchers understand how the virus spreads and whether the virus is changing in a way that makes it easier to transmit.
“I suspect it may have become more transmissible,” said Ira Longini, a biostatistician at the University of Florida, who cited recent cases among health workers who thought they were taking careful precautions. The Dallas health worker case announced today “does raise a red flag, but you can’t prove anything from it,” he said.