A physician with Doctors without Borders who returned from West Africa recently and developed potential symptoms is being tested for Ebola at a New York City hospital, health officials said on Thursday, setting off fresh fears about the spread of the virus.
The doctor developed a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a statement. Preliminary results of the Ebola testing were expected in the next 12 hours...
... Mayor Bill de Blasio said test results would be made public, possibly late on Thursday evening.
"It is our understanding very few people were in direct contact with him," de Blasio said at a news conference. "Every protocol has been followed.
"We're hoping for a good outcome for this individual," he said.
The doctor reported his fever immediately, and Doctors Without Borders said it promptly notified the city health department.
The patient, who returned to the United States within the past 21 days, is being treated at Bellevue Hospital, the health department said. Twenty-one days is the maximum incubation period for Ebola...
I have been reading the same information as others on various credible websites, as well as listening to NPR. I understand regarding the low risk of transmission in the early stage versus the latter stage. I merely wanted to show a timeline of Dr. Spencer’s travels, which was the same info I posted earlier from CNN, only I was looking for a picture with dates, which was consistent with CNN. I am well aware that some consider the NY Daily news a tabloid rag, I never said it was a credible resource. Sorry the picture offended you enough to make a snarky comment.
Re-read what I wrote above the picture, I merely wanted to know why volunteers, who are working in the hot zones, are not quarantined as others from those countries when they return to the states.
I honestly don’t think that MissyWrite intended it as snark directed at you, rather a caution to everyone to be careful and critical of our sources. Your post happened to be used as an example I believe, but in the last couple of months sources like NaturalNews, Breitbart and worse have been used to quote “scientific” information.
I understand your reasoning behind posting the timeline, a visual aid/picture is often useful when you want to convey information.
I’m not impressed by the New York Daily News timeline.
Oct. 21 “Starts feeling tired”.
Oct. 22 “Takes a 3-mile run. Rides the A L 1 trains to at least one restaurant and a pair of bowling alleys in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Takes an Uber taxi home to Harlem”.
Starts feeling tired… What does that even mean? And who told the media?
Well, he evidently wasn’t more tired than that he could go on a three-mile run the following day. By describing the physician’s movements in detail all they’ve accomplished in my opinion is to scare the **** out of a large number of people. Anyone who isn’t medically educated and who rode a Uber taxi (any of their cars, I assume they have more than one), or went bowling in any bowling alley in that part of town or rode the subway lines is likely suffering anxiety today. I don’t believe that these people are at risk of being infected with the Ebola virus, but it’s an effective way to spread panic in a community.
“Being tired” doesn’t mean that you’re contagious. The physician sought medical attention when he needed to.
The reason why people don’t need to be in solitary confinement for 21 days, is that they’re not contagious when they are asymptomatic. A decision to isolate healthcare workers would only be made to placate a scared community, it wouldn’t be based on any scientific evidence.
If this hysteria that’s seen in the media and on social media escalates any further, it will present a real challenge for us and possibly threaten the physical safety of healthcare workers everywhere. Widespread panic and irrational fears are the real threat here.
Edit:Oops, I didn't see that MissyWrite had already responded to you.
Wrong. Doesn't make a difference where he contracted it. If you want to lay that argument out be my guest. The fact is he was in West Africa and he was treating ebola patients which makes him a pretty prime target for the disease. So when he started to feel ill a couple of days BEFORE he had a temp of 103 common sense should have told him that hey, might be ebola so I should isolate myself in case it is. Instead he went about his business like he had no worries. Arrogant and stupid IMO.
You misunderstood my post. The pieces about where he contracted it were answering Ruby's question of why he wasn't thrown under the bus for "violating protocol" like Nina was initially. It got confusing to follow because Ruby's thread was originally separate and now merged.
Distant versus immediate areas of contraction makes absolutely no difference in my opinion on this matter.
It makes no difference EXCEPT that people will perceive the risk as less direct to them, and the CDC doesn't need to blame "protocol violation" for how he got it, because they don't control the protocols in West Africa.
People experiencing hysteria don't recognize it as hysteria -- they see it as 'common sense.'
Viral load is not at it's 'peak' early in the process, when someone first develops a fever. Add to that there is no means of transmission -- no body fluids being emitted. (Sweat and saliva do not become infectious until late in the illness).
"Ebola virus patients are really sick, and that's also something you should keep in mind. They do not walk around happily and all of a sudden they start to throw up, that is not the case. It's a deadly disease, and deadly means deadly, so you are ill and you won't be able to walk around and infect people so easily.
You can't really get out of bed by the time your fluids would be contagious?
Exactly."
From interview with Dr. Elke Muhlberger, an Ebola expert long intimate with the virus, an associate professor of microbiology at Boston University and director of the Biomolecule Production Core at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at Boston University.
Other Ebola experts say the same thing. And real-life experience concerning the spread of this virus have proved it.
He was feeling ill by Tuesday, so yes, you're not contagious when a symptomatic, but he was symptomatic for over 24 hours by the time he was bowling on Wednesday night. As far as body fluids- I'm guessing he used a public restroom at some point, so that is definitely a vector for body fluid transmission.
But what about Amber Vinson?? She had a low grade fever and still came up POSITIVE!
I'm sorry, but I'm not clear what you're asking. I think I detect some sarcasm......?
While a low-grade fever may technically be considered 'symptomatic,' the patient is not yet 'symptomatic enough' to spread the virus, for two reasons: First, the viral load is too low. Second, this virus is transmitted via body fluids, and patients don't start producing infectious vomit, diarrhea, etc. until later, when they are very symptomatic and the viral load is high.
As far as body fluids- I'm guessing he used a public restroom at some point, so that is definitely a vector for body fluid transmission.
As far as we know, he was not having diarrhea at the point he went bowling. He may have urinated, but:
"The absence of EBOV infection in multiple tested urine specimens suggests that the virus may not be efficiently filtered in the kidney. Consequently, exposure to urine appears to be of low risk during both acute illness and convalescence."
Assessment of the Risk of Ebola Virus Transmission from Bodily Fluids and Fomites
Are all of the doctor's belongings going to be burned?
I hope not! I don't understand the reason for that. If things are left untouched, they pose no threat once the virus dies, which takes at the most several days, from what I understand. Another option is to fumigate using hydrogen peroxide vapor.
I just searched and the only thing I could find was this article from the NY Post, which is not the best news source, to say the least:
“Today we’re expecting a specialized crew [to] come in full protective gear and will clean and sterilize Dr. [Craig] Spencer’s apartment for signs of bodily fluid,” said City Council member Mark Levine, adding that officials would “confiscate material that might have come into contact with his body such as sheets and pillowcases and bath towels and toothbrushes.”
I'm sorry, but I'm not clear what you're asking. I think I detect some sarcasm......?
This poster is asking a reasonable question. Even experts in infectious disease transmission say that no-one knows for certain how the virus is transmitted from person to person. There is still a lot to be learned about this virus.
She was kidding -- she was being sarcastic. How do I know this? Her previous post made it clear she felt people are panicking without cause.
There is still a lot to be learned about this virus.
I agree. But some things are known. We KNOW that direct caregivers are the ones who are at risk, because they are the ones who become infected. If casual contacts who crossed paths early in a person's illness became infected, there would be millions of victims. Patients are contagious when the viral load is high enough to make them really sick: when they're rendered helpless from vomiting, having diarrhea, and bleeding. At that point, they're not running 3 miles and going bowling, like Dr. Spencer did. They are deathly ill.
High viral load + geysers of body fluids = CONTAGIOUS.
(also, the virus lives in semen for a few months after recovery)
Do any of you subscribe to Medscape? I just received an email alert regarding New York and New Jersey will quarantine all healthcare workers arriving at two key airports from Guinea, Sierre Leone, and Liberia for 21 days if they have treated patients with the deadly virus in those countries. I would post the article, but I believe you have to subscribe in order to read the article.
macawake, MSN
2,141 Posts
I honestly don’t think that MissyWrite intended it as snark directed at you, rather a caution to everyone to be careful and critical of our sources. Your post happened to be used as an example I believe, but in the last couple of months sources like NaturalNews, Breitbart and worse have been used to quote “scientific” information.
I understand your reasoning behind posting the timeline, a visual aid/picture is often useful when you want to convey information.
I’m not impressed by the New York Daily News timeline.
Oct. 21 “Starts feeling tired”.
Oct. 22 “Takes a 3-mile run. Rides the A L 1 trains to at least one restaurant and a pair of bowling alleys in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Takes an Uber taxi home to Harlem”.
Starts feeling tired… What does that even mean? And who told the media?
Well, he evidently wasn’t more tired than that he could go on a three-mile run the following day. By describing the physician’s movements in detail all they’ve accomplished in my opinion is to scare the **** out of a large number of people. Anyone who isn’t medically educated and who rode a Uber taxi (any of their cars, I assume they have more than one), or went bowling in any bowling alley in that part of town or rode the subway lines is likely suffering anxiety today. I don’t believe that these people are at risk of being infected with the Ebola virus, but it’s an effective way to spread panic in a community.
“Being tired” doesn’t mean that you’re contagious. The physician sought medical attention when he needed to.
The reason why people don’t need to be in solitary confinement for 21 days, is that they’re not contagious when they are asymptomatic. A decision to isolate healthcare workers would only be made to placate a scared community, it wouldn’t be based on any scientific evidence.
If this hysteria that’s seen in the media and on social media escalates any further, it will present a real challenge for us and possibly threaten the physical safety of healthcare workers everywhere. Widespread panic and irrational fears are the real threat here.
Edit:Oops, I didn't see that MissyWrite had already responded to you.