Yay for the virus-free nurses -- and yay for anyone else who might be helped

[pnwmom]

by the addition of two more Ebola-immune Americans who might be able to give blood some day.

[morningfog]

1. Self-monitoing, early detection and early treatment works.

The only Ebola death in the US so far was the only one who wasn't admitted until his symptoms had progressed for 4 days to the point of violent vomiting and diarrhea.

Treatment at the first sign of fever seems to be possible. Likely due to the low viral loads and the chance to assist the body's immune response before its is further compromised.

[pnwmom]

2. Which means that the original standard requiring a high fever for diagnosis was wrong.

Are you ready to admit that?

Clearly, any temp of 100 or more in an Ebola exposed person is reason for concern. (The most recent doctor had a temp of only 100.3, which was similar to Duncan's on his first aborted hospital trip.)

[morningfog]

3. You are conflating two things here.

Don't be sloppy.

A temperature spike for a self-monitoring person is critical for early treatment and successful recovery.

That is a different question than how infectious someone with a slight, or even higher, temp is. To be proactive in treatment, early detection is a must. I have never said otherwise.

[pnwmom]

4. No, I'm not. I'm pointing to a problem that used to exist in the CDC's criteria for a diagnosis,

which you defended at the time. A temperature of 100 in an exposed person IS significant and should have, along with Duncan's abdominal pain and travel from Liberia, led to his immediate isolation.

Just because a person isn't contagious at the moment doesn't mean he can't become contagious hours later. And the Ebola virus CAN be measured in the blood even when a fever is only 100, as it was in this most recent case.