Martin-Moreno et al. suggest that we have misunderod their commentary (Martin-Moreno et al., 2014a,b). wever, we quoted directly from their commentary in r editorial, so cannot identify the scope for misundernding. A fuller direct quote than we included in our itorial is ‘‘In fact, goggles and masks might not even be cessary to speak with conscious (Ebola) patients, as long as distance of 1–2 metres is maintained (the maximum stance that infectious droplets might reach)’’ (Martinoreno et al., 2014a). We maintain that we do not support is statement. We advocate for a N95 respirator to be the inimum respiratory protection, not a surgical mask (or orse, no mask) in this situation. As we outline in our itorial, (MacIntyre et al., 2014) given the high case tality rate of Ebola and the uncertainty about transmission modes of Ebola, the precautionary principle must to invoked to ensure the occupational health and safety (OHS) of health care workers (HCWs) caring for Ebola patients. Further, it is unrealistic to expect HCWs to be aware of the exact distance between them and the patient at all times. The unpredictability and changeable nature of the acute clinical setting makes it unfeasible and impractical to make such recommendations. The three cases of transmission of Ebola outside West Africa have all been in nurses, all apparently following PPE guidelines, in the US and Spain. The nurse who cared for a known Ebola patient in Spain contracted Ebola in September 2014 despite following WHO PPE guidelines. Instead of questioning the guidelines, authorities have blamed the nurses for lapses in protocol, resulting in Spanish health workers protesting for lack of adequate protection and respect for their rights (Phillip and Ferdman, 2014). If our health workers do not feel confident in the level of protection afforded, this will compromise the ability of health systems to respond to Ebola. The indisputable fact is that health workers continue to become infected and die from Ebola. It has come to light that several health workers in West Africa adhered to strict infection control protocols but contracted Ebola anyway, which suggests transmission modes are not as clear-cut as suggested (Cohen, 2014). Blaming this entirely on failure to don and doff properly is pure speculation, not supported by evidence (Fischer II et al., 2014), whereas there is ample evidence that Ebola can spread through non-contact modes (MacIntyre et al., 2014). Martin-Moreno et al. rely on a classification of transmission as exclusively droplet or aerosol, which is based on outdated and misleading experiments, as recently pointed out (Brosseau and Jones, 2014). R T I C L E I N F O