To understand how the Ebola virus spreads among people and animals, researchers have used guinea pigs to serve as an experimental model. Guinea pigs make for an efficient model for Ebola transmission. Ebola is an unpleasant disease. After an incubation time that can stretch to twenty-one days, one of the common signs of the disease is bleeding from mucous membranes and puncture sites. If the infected person does not recover, death due to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome occurs.
The experimental findings indicate that guinea pigs did not need to contact infected animals directly to contract Ebola. Simply by sharing bedding and being located in adjacent cages was sufficient to spread the virus.
In a research brief, Gary Kobinger, the lead scientist states:
“The experimental results do not support airborne spread of [Ebola virus] but demonstrate instead that virus transmission can occur through direct contact with infected materials traveling over short distances.”
The research did not alter the fact that direct contact with infected animals is the most effective means of spreading the virus. Up to five out of six guinea pigs died within two weeks of exposure to infected cagemates. This transmission rate is similar to those of human outbreaks prior.
The project has been led by researchers based at the Public Health Agency of Canada. The findings have been published in the Journal of Virology. The paper is titled “Ebola Virus Transmission in Guinea Pigs.”
