<p>I would find that ridiculous. 1 living person out of the 1.2 million who live in the Dallas area is known to be infected and contagious (and they got it in the hospital treating another sick patient). Public health officials are monitoring people who came into contact with either patient a couple of times a day with temperature checks, and they will be going to the hospital immediately if they have an elevated temperature while awaiting test results. You aren’t going to get it.</p>
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<p>^^^^The point is not who came into contact with this nurse in the past two weeks. The point is who came into close contact with her after she became symptomatic. </p>
<p>Have we learned nothing here?</p>
<p>I don’t know about adults. For my kid, I could bring her fever down to normal with a tylenol when she was a teen. Are teens different in their repines to fever and medication?</p>
<p>Right. And she was taking her temperature regularly to check, and reported it as soon as it became elevated. My guess is that no one who was in contact with her at home or outside isolation will get it. Maybe someone treating her will, especially if there are equipment or protocol issues.</p>
<p>I find it amazing that the folks in the apartment with Duncan when he was symptomatic seemed to have dodged a bullet, yet the nurse who had full protective gear did not. </p>
<p>Its not likely the age of a patient- its the cause of the fever that is more likely the issue. When my kids were infants/toddler, they occasionally spiked a really high temp (like 104). In addition to tylenol, we had to put a hat on them and pour cool water on them in the tub to bring temporarily the temp down. Different infections or viruses will likely cause different body responses.</p>
<p>What I don’t understand is why we are allowing commercial flights out of the hot spots for Ebola ? Why are passengers NOT being quarantined before being allowed to leave ? It seems like a little too little, a little too late to screen them for a fever once they have landed in the USA.
The last international flight I took ( from Europe ) back to the USA was extremely turbulent …as a result , dozens of people were sick. It wasn’t pretty , and it wasn’t contained to barf bags. So imagine an infected passenger on such a flight and how many people could potentially be exposed before having their temperature checked, post flight ….this is frightening</p>
<p>It’s not just equipment or protocol issues. From the two cases, didn’t we learn implementing is hard in practice? They will have to do more taking off the gear is safe.</p>
<p>If they didn’t touch his vomit or feces (and it sounds like he was a proud man and not so weak he couldn’t do it himself), they likely weren’t actually exposed. Nurses in hospitals are cleaning up bloody vomit and diarrhea, getting on their protective suits. They are drawing blood from him, putting in IVs, etc. And if they don’t take the gear off properly or there is a cut in it where some of those fluids get in, a needlestick, etc, then they would be exposed. It doesn’t seem so odd to me. </p>
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<p>Do we know fever caused by Ebola won’t be brought down by medication?</p>
<p>Duncan was vomiting, etc when he left, and I assume he was sleeping with his girlfriend while he was there. She collected and changed the bedding, so yes it is surprising she has not been infected. </p>
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<p>Me, neither. The only expalanation given so far is it will make it difficult for aid workers to travel to the region. But there aren’t that many workers that can’t be handled by a charter plane. Bureaucratic inertia?</p>
<p>^^^^She’s not out of the woods yet, but we’re still hopeful.</p>
<p>Louise was exposed to him yes, but this may indicate that the sicker the patient gets, the more and more virus is being shed. Seems perfectly logical. </p>
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<p>I agree. I was sure she would get infected.</p>
<p>I’m not shocked they haven’t stopped flights unfortunately the airline lobby would have fit. </p>
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<p>Agreed, and this will be the weak point in any system. Human behavior is tough to change, as cumbersome leads to shortcuts.</p>
<p>Additionally, it turns out the virus is proving more resilient and survivable on certain surfaces - the hazmat suit surface may be one, and the suits’ disposable and cleaning could prove as problematic. At least, this strain is showing longer signs of viability where no other strain did before. </p>
<p>The survivability of a few hours on surfaces is now expanded to 2 - 3 days and up to 7 days inside dried blood. And for men, even after a “visible” full recovery, the virus lives in sperm for 90 days after that and can infect a significant other. And it is suspected it is living in other internal fluids, but that is still not fully documented yet.</p>
<p>However, it follows that if it lives in sperm for 90 days, that it most likely resides there PRIOR to the male becoming visibly symptomatic. So that is an issue for spouses, i.e., the fever is too late. </p>
<p>Simply, there are many “touch points” where a infection can take place. And it is important to understand the science of this strain, if a useful system is to be put in place. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/west-africa-outbreak-infographic.pdf”>http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/west-africa-outbreak-infographic.pdf</a></p>
<p>If he was sick , maybe they werent sleeping together. Who knows. </p>
<p>@Iglooo thanks for this thread.</p>
<p>I also didn’t necessarily mean that Louise was sleeping with him, as in sex, but physically sleeping in the same bed. Since sweat has been mentioned as an issue I am very surprised she has remained infection free.</p>
<p>Australia will not send any healthcare workers to West Africa, says the risks are too great. But they are not preventing volunteers from going. They also doubled their aid to the area.
<a href=“http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/ebola-crisis/health-workers-wont-be-sent-to-ebola-zones-tony-abbott-says/story-fnpqlos3-1227087966823?nk=3bd9e561aa5886f9ae4902936cf57f80”>http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/ebola-crisis/health-workers-wont-be-sent-to-ebola-zones-tony-abbott-says/story-fnpqlos3-1227087966823?nk=3bd9e561aa5886f9ae4902936cf57f80</a></p>
<p>If the protocols are so easy to accidentally breach, then they need better protocols.</p>