Cruise ship with monitored health worker returns

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — A Texas-based cruise ship carrying a Dallas health care worker who is being monitored for signs of Ebola returned to port early Sunday, company officials said.

The unidentified woman who is being monitored disembarked the Carnival Magic with her husband shortly after the ship returned to Galveston, Texas, about 6 a.m. EDT, said Vicky Rey, vice president of guest care for Carnival Cruise Lines. Rey said the couple drove themselves home, but offered no further details.

Company and federal officials have said the woman being monitored for Ebola poses no risk because she has shown no symptoms and has voluntarily self-quarantined.

Petty Officer Andy Kendrick told The Associated Press that a Coast Guard crew flew in a helicopter Saturday to meet the Carnival Magic and retrieved a blood sample from the woman. He said the blood sample was taken to a state lab in Austin for processing.

FULL story at link.



FILE - The cruise ship Carnival Magic passes near Cozumel , Mexico, in this Friday, Oct. 17, 2014 file photo. The Coast Guard said it has retrieved a blood sample from a Dallas health care worker who is aboard a cruise ship and being monitored for signs of Ebola. Petty Officer Andy Kendrick says the crew flew in a helicopter Saturday Oct. 18, 2014 to meet the Carnival Magic and lowered a basket of supplies. The woman provided a sample. (AP Photo/Angel Castellanos, File)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141019/us--ebola-cruise_ship-8f2ce4b243.html

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Oct 19, 8:18 AM (ET)

[Fred Sanders]

1. Mankind is one step above the age of witchcraft, technology has made zero difference in our

evolution. Fear is primordial, fear is instinctive, fear is easily aroused, fear is the mother of terror, still, why are folks so easily terrorized? Land of the ________, what was that word again?

Not land of "cowards", not land of "brainwashed zombies", not "media slaves", no, what was that word...

[Warren Stupidity]

4. pants-wetters?

[Warren Stupidity]

2. dumped on the dock, cleared of the virus.

we humans are a pathetic bunch.

[Yo_Mama]

3. So they are going to test and clear. Good move. n/t

[LisaL]

5. Her test already came back negative.

[Yo_Mama]

6. There was no way it would be positive

I mean that the best thing is to start testing and clearing individuals who may have been exposed so that you can cut down the monitoring list. That can only be done after a certain period of time since last exposure, but it certainly cuts the workload and the anxiety levels.

[LisaL]

7. It won't work.

Until they develop symptoms, the test will come back negative (because virus is not yet detectable).
So you can not just test exposed individuals and clear them. They have to be in quarantine.

[Thor_MN]

11. It's not a binary state.

It's not like there is a switch that is flipped and one instantly has symptoms and detectable levels.

The symptoms begin to occur as the viral load increases, so the virus is detectable before symptoms start.

[LisaL]

14. The test for Ebola is only going to be positive after symptoms start.

[uppityperson]

15. Research got me this link, can be negative first 3 days of symptoms. Also bonus link, quick test.

http://www.livescience.com/48141-how-doctors-test-for-ebola.html

A number of tests can be used to diagnose Ebola within a few days of the onset of symptoms, which can detect the virus's genetic material or the presence of antibodies against the pathogen.

The most accurate of these is likely the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, a technique that looks for genetic material from the virus and creates enough copies of it that it can be detected, Hirsch said. "PCR is a really definitive test," Hirsch said. It can pick up very small amounts of the virus.

However, this test can be negative during the first three days an infected person has symptoms, said Dr. Sandro Cinti, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of Michigan Hospital System/Ann Arbor VA Health System.

"Somebody could be in the hospital for three to five days before a diagnosis [of Ebola] is confirmed," Cinti told Live Science. "The important thing is keeping the patient isolated until you can get to a diagnosis." Meanwhile, doctors will be running tests to rule out other diseases, such as malaria, which can be detected more quickly than Ebola, he said.

Link to an article about a quick test, which would help diagnosis.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2014/10/18/ozy-diagnosing-ebola/17441835/

[Thor_MN]

16. Tests exist that can detect ebols before the patients show symptoms.

It would be ridiculous to think that it can't be done. The problem is getting any companies interested in something that won't make wheelbarrows full of money.


the Q16, being tested in Britain now. It's comparatively cheap, at $6,000, and weighs less than 5 pounds, which makes diagnosis possible even in remote, rural areas. Results take 90 minutes, but the best part is this: The Q16 can diagnose the virus within five days of infection, weeks before patients start showing symptoms, says Jim Wicks, managing director of Primerdesign, which makes the machine. It's slated to test live human samples soon.

Then there's Unlu, the nanotechnologist, and his team at Boston University. Their invention could beat all of them: It draws blood "straight from the vein," dabs it on a silicon chip and shines a single-colored LED through it. The Ebola-specific particles appear as bright dots on the chip, if present. Like the Primerdesign machine, it will be able to detect Ebola in asymptomatic patients. And it'll also be able to test for the Marburg virus, also a hemorrhagic fever, and bacterial infections like E. coli.

[VA_Jill]

8. AND she's negative!

All the kerfuffle and headlines for nothing. Just another day in the nooze.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. ..............

[christx30]

9. I'm sure she's really

popular with her fellow passengers.

[LisaL]

10. There were no travel restrictions put on her when she went on the cruise.

So how is it her fault?

[Demit]

13. Oh, they'll have a great melodramatic story to tell.

With themselves at the center. They'll be dining out on it for years.