Purdue professor Dr. Sanders responds to commentary about his Ebola interview with Fox News

Last month I analyzed the media coverage of Ebola in a post where I dissected an interview between Fox News reporters and Dr. David Sanders. I was recently contacted by Dr. Sanders, who wished to clarify a few issues that I raised in my article. The purpose of my post was to demonstrate how the media sometimes covers scientific issues in ways that exaggerate and oversimplify concepts, which can potentially mislead non-scientist citizens.

I stated that the way Dr. Sanders described his research sounded a little misleading. I intended to convey how I thought an average non-scientist listener might interpret the dialogue. However, Dr. Sanders points out that he was careful with his wording to avoid possible confusion. He explained, “as you have pointed out, one says one thing, and the media (and the Internet) render it as something else.  I would just like to point out that I carefully stated that Ebola can ENTER human lung from the airway side; I never said infect.  I also try to avoid the use of the term ‘airborne’ because of the confusion about its meaning.”

Also, he had several good scientific points about the validity of using pseudotyped viruses and the comparison to other viruses when considering the potential for a change in Ebola transmission.

“Pseudotyped viruses are used widely for studying viral entry, and I know of no examples where the conclusions on the cell biology of the entry of pseudotyped viruses have been contradicted by studies of entry of the intact virus despite such comparisons having been published numerous times.” 

“When we discovered that there was maternal-child transmission of HIV was that a new mode of transmission or merely a discovery of a previously unknown mode of transmission? How was Hepatitis C transmitted between humans before injections and blood transfusions? I don't know either. How is Ebola virus transmitted between fruit bats or from fruit bats to humans? Perhaps modes of transmission differ in their efficiency. The HIV comparison with Ebola ("HIV hasn't become airborne") is fallacious given the cell biology of entry for the two viruses.  The receptors for HIV (the CD4 attachment factor and the chemokine receptor) are present on blood cells and not on lung tissue.  The receptors for Ebola are present on a diverse set of cells including lung cells. In addition, Influenza A switches in real time from a gastrointestinal virus in birds to a respiratory virus in mammals--not that many mutations required.”

Additionally, he wisely pointed out that “precedent may be a valid argument in medical practice or the law, but it is not valid in science.” In fact, science seeks to uncover things that were previously unknown, and thus were without precedent.

I appreciate Dr. Sander’s response to my article. I think that rational and in-depth discussions about science need to happen more frequently in the media. Short, simplified stories with shock-factor headlines only detract from the important conversations that are necessary to find practical solutions to challenges like Ebola.

-Mike Allegrezza