Today , the Ebola virus spreads only through direct contact with bodily fluids , such as blood and vomit . But some of the nation 's top infectious disease experts worry that this deadly virus could mutate and be transmitted just by a cough or a sneeze . `` It 's the single greatest concern I 've ever had in my 40-year public health career , '' said Dr. Michael Osterholm , director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota . `` I ca n't imagine anything in my career -- and this includes HIV -- that would be more devastating to the world than a respiratory transmissible Ebola virus . '' The World Health Organization says its scientists are unaware of any virus that has dramatically changed its mode of transmission . `` For example , the H5N1 avian influenza virus ... has probably circulated through many billions of birds for at least two decades . Its mode of transmission remains basically unchanged . Speculation that Ebola virus disease might mutate into a form that could easily spread among humans through the air is just that : speculation , unsubstantiated by any evidence . '' Osterholm and other experts could n't think of another virus that has made the transition from non-airborne to airborne in humans . They say the chances are relatively small that Ebola will make that jump . But as the virus spreads , they warned , the likelihood increases . Every time a new person gets Ebola , the virus gets another chance to mutate and develop new capabilities . Osterholm calls it `` genetic roulette . '' As of October 1 , there have been more than 7,100 cases of Ebola , with 3,330 deaths , according to the World Health Organization , which has said the virus is spreading at a much faster rate than it was earlier in the outbreak . Ebola is an RNA virus , which means every time it copies itself , it makes one or two mutations . Many of those mutations mean nothing , but some of them might be able to change the way the virus behaves inside the human body . `` Imagine every time you copy an essay , you change a word or two . Eventually , it 's going to change the meaning of the essay , '' said Dr. C.J . Peters , one of the heroes featured in `` The Hot Zone . '' The roots of our Ebola fears . That book chronicles the 1989 outbreak of Ebola Reston , which was transmitted among monkeys by breathing . In 2012 , Canadian researchers found that Ebola Zaire , which is involved in the current outbreak , was passed from pigs to monkeys in the air . Dr. James Le Duc , the director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas , said the problem is that no one is keeping track of the mutations happening across West Africa , so no one really knows what the virus has become . One group of researchers looked at how Ebola changed over a short period of time in just one area in Sierra Leone early on in the outbreak , before it was spreading as fast as it is now . They found more than 300 genetic changes in the virus . `` It 's frightening to look at how much this virus mutated within just three weeks , '' said Dr. Pardis Sabeti , an associate professor at Harvard and senior associate member of the Broad Institute , where the research was done . Even without becoming airborne , the virus has overwhelmed efforts to stop it . Funerals , ghost towns and haunted health workers . Osterholm commended groups like Doctors Without Borders but said uncoordinated efforts by individual organizations are no match for Ebola spreading swiftly through urban areas . `` This is largely dysfunctional . Nobody 's in command , and nobody 's in charge , '' he said . `` It 's like not having air traffic control at an airport . The planes would just crash into each other . ''
Experts fear that Ebola will mutate and become spreadable via cough or sneeze . Ebola is an RNA virus , meaning every time it copies itself , it mutates . Most mutations mean nothing , but some could change the way the virus behaves .