He continued: "Infections could spread quickly to every part of the globe, as the H1N1 influenza virus did in 2009, after its birth in Mexico. Why are public officials afraid to discuss this? They don’t want to be accused of screaming 'Fire!' in a crowded theater — as I’m sure some will accuse me of doing."

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More on that in a moment.

Osterholm, who has also previously written for the Post, added that "the risk is real, and until we consider it, the world will not be prepared to do what is necessary to end the epidemic."

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He then told a story:

In 2012, a team of Canadian researchers proved that Ebola Zaire, the same virus that is causing the West Africa outbreak, could be transmitted by the respiratory route from pigs to monkeys, both of whose lungs are very similar to those of humans. Richard Preston’s 1994 best seller “The Hot Zone” chronicled a 1989 outbreak of a different strain, Ebola Reston virus, among monkeys at a quarantine station near Washington. The virus was transmitted through breathing, andthe outbreak ended only when all the monkeys were euthanized. We must consider that such transmissions could happen between humans, if the virus mutates.

Osterholm certainly knows his stuff when it comes to public health, and, he said this week, the piece was vetted by other scientists before it was submitted. Osterholm told The Washington Post that the group included C.J. Peters, a famed virologist who has chased pathogens for years and is very familiar with the Ebola virus. (Peters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

"That's not about scaring people," Osterholm told The Post on Wednesday. "That's about being responsible."

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But it's hard to control the way Osterholm's message is interpreted. His op-ed was discussed in Scientific American, Time magazine, the BBC and this blog. What Osterholm wrote troubled some scientists, who feared that shifting the Ebola dialogue toward airborne transmission might distract people from the bigger picture -- and might lead to distrust of the scientific community, too.

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But for Osterholm, risk management means talking about all sorts of situations, even the ones that seem unlikely now. That's why people put this out there — to try to make sure that responders won't be caught off-guard, facing a scenario they hadn't considered. His op-ed was followed Wednesday by a piece from University of Illinois-Chicago professor Lisa Brosseau, entitled "Health workers need optimal respiratory protection for Ebola."

There are other questions Osterholm's op-ed raised, beyond just issues of medical care: Is it possible for a scientist to raise concerns about an outbreak without seeming like an alarmist? What's the best way to talk about a virus this scary without seeming like you're just trying to scare people?

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There's no question that Ebola is a terrifying virus. During the deadliest outbreak in history, it has killed 2,461 people out of nearly 5,000 infected, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

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"Wait and see when more of this information comes out about our concerns," Osterholm said. "I think you'll find that some people will look at this and go, 'I didn't know this.'

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