(NaturalNews) The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated its Case Definition for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), which outlines the official surveillance standards for identifying those at risk of contracting and spreading Ebola infection. In this update, the CDC quietly admits that Ebola can spread through the air, a move that greatly expands the number of persons who may be subject to mandatory quarantine.

Previously, the health agency identified a fever equal or greater than 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit, along with a list of other common symptoms, as the main criteria for identifying a "Person Under Investigation" (PUI). Other epidemiological risk factors encountered in the 21 days prior to symptom onset, such as direct contract with blood or other body fluids, are also listed as proper criteria for identifying a PUI.

But in its most recent update, the CDC scrapped the specific fever criteria entirely and replaced it with more general criteria of "Elevated body temperature or subjective fever or symptoms." The agency also added the word "fatigue" to the Case Definition, which subjectively adds millions of ordinary Americans to the official pool of those suspected of possibly having Ebola.

The new CDC Case Definition reads:

A person who has both consistent signs or symptoms and risk factors as follows:

1. Elevated body temperature or subjective fever or symptoms, including severe headache, fatigue, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, or unexplained hemorrhage...

If you were in 'brief proximity' of Ebola victim with no touching, you are still at risk

In defining "epidemiologic risk factors," which include more PUI criteria, the CDC refers inquirers to a separate agency page that outlines these risk factors based on their likelihood. In the high-risk category, the usual suspects such as touching contaminated blood or saliva are included, along with direct contact with a dead body.

Further down the list, the CDC outlines factors that carry "some risk," which includes "close contact" with symptomatic Ebola patients in households or healthcare facilities. In other words, close, but not necessarily direct, contact is still a considerable risk factor when it comes to contracting Ebola, according to the CDC.

But the agency goes even further in the "low (but not zero)" risk category, warning that people who have merely traveled to Ebola-stricken countries with "no known exposures" can still become infected. "Brief proximity" is also listed as a risk factor, countering earlier CDC claims that it would be impossible for Ebola to transmit apart from direct contact with infected body fluids.

"Having brief direct contact (e.g., shaking hands) while not wearing appropriate PPE [personal protective equipment], with a person with Ebola while the person was in the early stage of the disease" is listed as a low, but not zero, risk factor.

"Brief proximity, such as being in the same room for a brief period of time, with a person with Ebola while the person was symptomatic" is also listed.

Air travel is also an Ebola risk factor

Remember when CDC Division of Global Migration and Quarantine Director Marty Cetron told the media in early October that Ebola "is not an airborne transmission"? This was apparently a lie, as the CDC now admits that merely traveling on the same aircraft as a symptomatic Ebola victim represents a "low (but not zero) risk."

"Symptoms," it is important to note, tend to emerge on a sliding scale rather than all or nothing. The media keeps repeating the line that "there have to be symptoms!" for an Ebola victim to be contagious. But even a slight cough or low-level temperature can indicate symptoms, though in the disease's early stages, which means there is still some risk of transmission.

Learn all these details and more at the FREE online Pandemic Preparedness course at www.BioDefense.com

Sources:

http://www.cdc.gov

http://www.cdc.gov

http://www.cnn.com

http://pissinontheroses.blogspot.co.uk

http://science.naturalnews.com