Hospital: US Ebola patient in critical condition

[JDPriestly]

21. Make that 4 week medical quarantine . . .

21 days is believed to be the incubation period. The quarantine should be longer than that.

I was placed under quarantine when I was very, very young because I had scarlet fever.

My husband was not allowed to immigrate the the US until he showed no more active tuberculosis.

We used to require people to isolate themselves, their children and their loved ones to avoid epidemics.

And by the way, plagues and serious spread of illness follows trade expansion, wars and the discovery of new continents.

Google it.

Europeans spread small pox to the Native Americans.

And just where did syphilis come from?

The history of syphilis has been well studied, but the exact origin of syphilis is unknown.[2] There are two primary hypotheses: one proposes that syphilis was carried to Europe from the Americas by the crew of Christopher Columbus, the other proposes that syphilis previously existed in Europe but went unrecognized.[3] These are referred to as the "Columbian" and "pre-Columbian" hypotheses respectively.[3]

In late 2011 newly published evidence suggested that the Columbian hypothesis is the valid one.[4]

"Skeletal evidence that reputedly showed signs of syphilis in Europe and other parts of the Old World before Christopher Columbus made his voyage in 1492 does not hold up when subjected to standardized analyses for diagnosis and dating, according to an appraisal in the current Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. This is the first time that all 54 previously published cases have been evaluated systematically, and bolsters the case that syphilis came from the New World."

The first written records of an outbreak of syphilis in Europe occurred in 1494/1495 in Naples, Italy, during a French invasion.[3][5] Because it was spread by returning French troops, the disease was known as "French disease", and it was not until 1530 that the term "syphilis" was first applied by the Italian physician and poet Girolamo Fracastoro.[5] The causative organism, Treponema pallidum, was first identified by Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffmann in 1905.[5] The first effective treatment (Salvarsan) was developed in 1910by Sahachirō Hata in the laboratory of Paul Ehrlich which was followed by the introduction of penicillin in 1943.[5] Many famous historical figures including Franz Schubert, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Édouard Manet are believed to have had the disease.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_syphilis