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Lumifer comments on Open thread, August 4 - 10, 2014 - Less Wrong
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TL;DR: Ebola is very hard to transmit person to person. Don't think flu, think STDs.
Ebola isn't airborne, so breathing the same air, being on the same plane as an Ebola case will not give you Ebola. It doesn't spread quite like STDs, but it does require getting an infected person's bodily fluids (urine, semen, blood, and vomit) mixed up in your bodily fluids or in contact with a mucous membrane.
So, don't sex up your recently returned Peace Corps friend who's been feeling a little fluish, and you should be a-ok.
Um. Given that an epidemic is actually happening and given that more than one doctor attending Ebola patients got infected, I'm not sure that "very hard" is the right term here.
Having said that, if you don't live in West Africa your chances of getting Ebola are pretty close to zero. You should be much more afraid of lightning strikes, for example.