As U.S. Ebola Fears Widen, Reports of Possible Cases Grow

[JimDandy]

30. I agree the fever threshhold definitely should be lowered.

Mr Duncan and most other individuals with cases of Ebola here in the US will probably be taking Ibuprofen for the headaches and pains that are one of the first symptoms of this disease.

We grow up having pain/headache medication like that on hand at all times at home and will be reaching for it at the earliest sign of observable symptoms of the disease, when it can and obviously does mask as some less important malady (But antibiotics Presby Hospital? Really?)

Medication like that reduces the 101.5 fevers airports and hospitals are counting on to reveal the disease in their facilities and isolate such cases from the rest of the public.

If the 101.5 temp is the revelatory norm for Ebola in a country where people don't have Ibuprofen on hand at home, then we should not be comfortable using that as the norm in the US, if we want to catch this disease at an early stage here.

Losing a day or two to identify Ebola cases, due to not having the magic 101.5 fever, may put us behind countries like Liberia as far as the advantage of time. Liberia is losing the Ebola battle due to not having the facilities/equipment/supplies/personnel to handle it. The U.S. does not have those problems, but if the loss of 1-2 days to identify cases in the US is equal to that loss of facilities etc, then we may get no better results (without Zmapp or some other drug) than Liberia is getting.

Mr Duncan's case may prove this if he does not survive.