Useful Ebola Info from a 2009 report on emerging infectious diseases and their effect on the blood supply
Here’s the Report, written by the Transfusion Transmitted Disease Committee of the American Association of Blood Banks. Notable quotes:
- Physicochemical properties: Stable at room temperature and
can resist desiccation (drying); inactivated at 60°C [140 F] for 30 minutes [However, the 1984 Mitchell and McCormick paper that studied virus inactivation found that the time to inactivation was a function of the concentration of virus, and suggested 60 minutes for up to ten to the 5th viral particles/ml. Now we know titres may be much higher than this, so 60 minutes may not be sufficient. They also found that slightly lower temperatures failed to inactivate the virus.–Nass] - Asymptomatic viremia has been neither well studied nor
sought aggressively, so there are few or no data to make a critical assessment
of risk - In addition to high viral titers in blood, the skin of
patients is extensively infected. - Transmission to household contacts has ranged between 3 and
17%. - Prolonged
presence of viral RNA in semen and vaginal fluids (greater than 100 days) has been
demonstrated in a limited number of patients.