Nancy Writebol was disinfecting, and not in contact with the Ebola patients. Now I'm fretting

[Stratter5]

And Dr Brantly was experienced and wearing protective gear. I'm scared now, it seems easier to catch than I thought. Just what are the chances of a newly infected person getting on a plane out of there, not realising they're sick, and are they infectious at the 'cold/flu' stage, what if they sneezed in someone's face on the plane?

Better define 'late stages', please. Does it mean symptomatic? Which ones? What time period? How is 'late stages' defined?

The illness moves incredibly fast from asymptomatic to fully symptomatic - and once symptomatic I'd question whether anyone would be in a state to self-test and refer to the relevant reference lab.

As reported it doesn't really make sense.

Rafa, I cross-posted with you, that's a really helpful clarification.

Not sure how much of a clarification it is. My Spanish is passable as a holiday maker but not great. But all I can see is one negative test in 1 symptomatic person who later tested positive.

The big complaint of the monk in the article seems to be about the speed (or lack of it) that everything is happening. How they are receiving no help from the government and are having to buy disinfectant etc themselves or are having to fundraise to get it.

Which is pretty much what the director of WHO said yesterday. This isn't out of control because it's a difficult virus to contain. It's actually fairly easy to contain. It's a problem with lack of facilities. The many clinics and hospitals that don't have electricity and clean water aren't equipped to deal with isolating and decontaminating things that have been in contact with ebola victims.

The hospital in the article received 100 pairs of disposable gloves, 1 pair of boots, 50 masks, 5 disposable suits and 5 bottles of disinfectant. In May. This is what we should be fretting about. Not whether we're going to get a big outbreak here. Because that risk is, at the moment infinitesimally small.

Hi everyone,

We've moved this thread to our new Ebola topic now.

read on another thread ebola can also be spread by animals......that's a scary thought if true

The 'reservoir' for Ebola is (probably) the fruit bat, and it has also been found in primates and other species.

I heard on the news that the nurse in spain caught it because she caught of her dog

The threat of Ebola now doesn't look as far away as it did when this thread started back in August.

I'm not afraid to admit I'm worried by it, the authorities seem to be on the back foot about it all. Almost bumbling along. The UK today said No and yes to testing at Airports. The Irish have nothing in place yet. Yep worried.

There's a separate thread about screening at airports.

It strikes me that it's a political decision, because as a health protection measure there are several gaping flaws.

Isn't there a woman in Australia with it now too ?

It looks like they're waiting for confirmation at the moment.

link to theaustralian.com

She's being tested.

As are samples from a man in Macedonia who, it has been announced today, died whilst exhibiting symptoms of Ebola; they have another possible case and a large number in quarantine in Skopje.

Either way, the dog was pts!

Oh right. Do you think it will come over here ?

I wouldnt have thought so but saying that I didn't think it would get to Texas or Spain either.

Well, unconfirmed reports from Skopje say the man who died was British and had arrived from UK.

The Foreign Office is investigating, and it will be important to establish a) if it is Ebola at all and b) the timelines of his travel and when he became symptomatic (if that can be established).

The Macedonian case puzzles me.

It is said that the man who died with Ebola like symptoms travelled from the UK to Macedonia. There has only been one (known) case of Ebola in the UK, the nurse who was treated in the Royal Free. So if the man in Macedonia had Ebola then he would have caught it from the nurse (seems unlikely as the Royal Free has one of the best facilities for treating such diseases in the world) or he'd travelled from West Africa to the UK and then on to Macedonia within the 21 day incubation period, which also seems a bit unlikely.

I wonder if he might have died of something else?

I think that the screening on entry to the UK will also involve questionnaires presumably asking if travellers have been to regions where Ebola is prevalent, have had contact with anyone suffering the symptoms etc.

The British nurse William Pooley was discharged from hospital on 3 Sep which means that any incubation period for those in contact with him has already passed. If this poor man in Macedonia has died from Ebola the most reasonable explanation is prior travel from West Africa in the last three weeks before being in the Uk.

It will be awful for his family, whatever the cause of death, but lets hope it is some other illness and the Ebola assumption just down to general understandable jumpiness of authorities at present.

The Guardian has some more information about the Macedonian case now, but it just makes it more confusing.

They say that the man was ill for three days but stayed in his hotel room rather than going to hospital. He died only 90 minutes after arriving at the hospital.

A colleague who was travelling with the man who died has said that he had not been in any Ebola areas, but the hospital seem to think that he'd been to Nigeria. Nigeria has been free of Ebola since 31 August.

On a happier note both the Dallas county deputy and the nurse in Australia have both now tested negative for Ebola. Does anyone know if that is definitive or if they will still need to be monitored?

I think they will need another check in a couple of days, unless they are feeling better.

Maybe the man in Macedonia caught it at the airport on his way out? Would the timescale fit?

Is it possible he could have caught it in Britain from someone who has arrived but isn't symptomatic yet? The windows something like 5-21 days isn't it.

It's a bit unnerving that he apparently has not travelled to any ebola hot spots.

I think until we know whether he had it or not its wasted energy trying to puzzle out where he caught it from. Remember, they've only come to the conclusion from symptoms and they've only just sent the tests to Frankfurt. we should know in a couple of days and in his case it will be a definitive yes/no answer.

In the mean time its better to focus our concern on what is happening in West Africa.