open wounds, cuts and abrasions. Ebola may be spread through largedroplets; however, this is believed to occur only when a person is very sick. This can happen if a person is splashed with droplets. Contact with surfaces or objects contaminated by the virus, particularly needles and syringes, may also transmit the infection. The virus is able to survive on objects for a few hours in a dried state and can survive for a few days within body fluids.
The Ebola virus may be able to persist for up to 7 weeks in the semen of survivors after they recovered, which could lead to infections via sexual intercourse. Ebola may also occur in the breast milk of women after recovery, and it is not known when it is safe to breastfeed again. Otherwise, people who have recovered are not infectious.
The potential for widespread infections in countries with medical systems capable of observing correct medical isolation procedures is considered low.Usually when someone has symptoms of the disease, they are unable to travel without assistance.
Dead bodies remain infectious; thus, people handling human remains in practices such as traditional burial rituals or more modern processes such as embalming are at risk.60% of the cases of Ebola infections in Guinea during the 2014 outbreak are believed to have been contracted via unprotected (or unsuitably protected) contact with infected corpses during certain Guinean burial rituals.
Health-care workers treating those who are infected are at greatest risk of getting infected themselves. The risk increases when these workers do not have appropriate protective clothing such as masks, gowns, gloves and eye protection; do not wear it properly; or handle contaminated clothing incorrectly. This risk is particularly common in parts of Africa where health systems function poorly and where the disease mostly occurs.Hospital-acquired transmission has also occurred in some African countries resulting from the reuse of needles. Some health-care centers caring for people with the disease do not have running water. In the United States the spread to two medial workers treating an infected patients prompted criticism of inadequate training and procedures.