There is no need to isolate for 21 days. Monitoring is sufficient [View all]

[morningfog]

Last edited Thu Oct 23, 2014, 11:42 PM - Edit history (1)

Monitoring, with regular temperature taking is enough to catch an infection in the early stages before a person is really contagious.

Ebola is a nasty nasty virus in the late stages. It is highly contagious when the person is near death. When they have a fever, not so much.

It is better to think of it as two different types of infections, early and late. I would not be surprised if that isn't the way it is treated in due time. Survival rate is very high if identified an treated early. This is where self-monitoring comes in. If you've been exposed to an infected person'a bodily fluids in their late stage an you have a fever spike, immediate response is shown to be very effective.

Once it progresses to the late stages, it is much harder to survive and the risk of infecting others expands exponentially.

This is why it is taking such a toll in west Africa, but never will in the US. In the three west African nations suffering worst from this, no one gets early treatment. It is a not a luxury they can afford. Only those closest to death and in the worst condition are given a bed and treatment. Tragically, that leads to increased risk to health workers.

In the US, and with proper screening in place, the symptoms will be caught early. Like Pham who is in good condition with none of her contacts showing symptoms. Like Vinson who is reportedly free of Ebola with none of her contacts showing symptoms. The doctor in NYC likewise was diagnosed early with mild symptoms.

I'll go out on a safe limb now. He didn't infect anyone either. And his chance of recovery are pretty good. This is going to be the new realty until we the outbreak in west Africa is controlled and over. We can't act like a bunch of idiots who forget how to think critically every time.