August 1, 2014

Pennsylvania doctors advised of deadly Ebola threat

(snippets from article)

The Pennsylvania Medical Society has alerted doctors to the threat of Ebola, even though the risk of the disease appearing in the United States is considered low.

The medical society, relaying advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, used its electronic newsletter to advise Pennsylvania doctors to learn the symptoms of Ebola, and be aware of patients who might have traveled recently to West Africa.

People who have been to areas where the outbreak is occurring are advised to watch for symptoms for ten days, and people who have had direct contact should be monitored for symptoms for 21 days.

Citing the Washington Post, the Pennsylvania Medical Society informed its members Connecticut-based Doctors Without Borders has more than 300 staff members responding to the epidemic.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/07/ebola_virus_pennsylvania_cdc_w.html#incart_m-rpt-1

Reading the entire article, only snippets of which I posted per the 4 paragraph limitation, there are several internal contradictions in what the CDC is telling these docs.
First the CDC is saying it's unlikely someone could bring it back to the United States, since most flights from West Africa to the United States require stops in one or more countries. But in the next paragraph it talks about symptoms not appearing for 10 or 21 days.

Obviously people flying from Africa to the US would typically have no more than an overnight stop elsewhere - plenty of time for them to still be asymptomatic, regardless of how many stops/transfers in other countries.

The final inconsistency is regarding the time during which one should watch for symptoms to appear. Is it 10 days OR 21 days? Why such a difference? The standard medical decision rule is, "When in doubt, treat." That should be modified to "When in doubt, isolate."