Reports of the massive outbreak in West Africa coupled with reports of people traveling into the United States with Ebola infections have been cause for alarm for many Americans. People worry that the growing number of reports of patients being treated in American hospitals could mean that the chances of a full scale outbreak are increasing.

But experts caution against such worries. Dr. Ednan Bajwa, of the Massachusetts General Hospital, says that a large scale outbreak is highly unlikely for several reasons.

First, Ebola is difficult to catch. It is not airborne and will almost certainly not mutate in a way that makes it airborne. According to Bajwa, no virus has ever been known to mutate in such a significant way.

By not being airborne, Ebola becomes more difficult to contract. A person with the infection would need to display symptoms to be contagious and then a person not infected would need to come in direct contact with the bodily fluids secreted as a result of the illness. In America, people would likely be hospitalized and in isolation by this point.

To illustrate the difficulty of transmission of the virus, Bajwa points out that the case where the man in Dallas traveled to the states with the virus. He was sick for days at home with his family before being hospitalized and none of his family have displayed any symptoms.

People with the virus who are hospitalized are kept in isolation, with a specific team of medical professionals treating them. This team does not work with other patients in the hospital. Hospitals and medical staff have had months to prepare for handling a patient with Ebola and have solid protocol in place that relies heavily on isolation to contain the virus.

All of these factors make it very unlikely that any person in the United States will even come in contact with a person infected with the virus. As Bajwa points out, most people who are ill with Ebola are too sick to go out and risk contaminating public areas with their fluids.