Ebola.....where Now?

[Sqad]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2891870/How-did-miss-ebola-nurse-sick-complained-fever-Heathrow-asked-tested-SEVEN-TIMES-revealed-caught-disease-hug-church.html

I have mentioned on many threads on this subject that we need a scientific approach to the problem of Ebola in West Africa, mainly involving public Health preventative measures PLUS........that little bit of LUCK .
Up until now, we have had this commodity, but i fear it has run out.

Science versus anecdotal evidence.

The nurse new that she had a temperature and that she was a suspect for Ebola infection, but her temperature was normal.

Who should one believe....science OR the nurse?

My old teacher at med school impressed upon us....." In the vast majority of cases, the diagnosis will be made by talking and listening to the patient"

Modern medicine with it's "tick boxes" and links to various web sites, have forgotten that true and important maxim.

Is the incubation period 7-21 days?..............
Can one only catch Ebola by direct contact of body fluids?..........are you sure?

Should one isolate ALL travelers from West Africa, as suggested by many ABers, but kicked into touch by others?..........it looks a good move to isolate for 3 weeks.

Are you sure that the virus isn't airborne?

Sqad's views only, who is now a little more concerned about UK spread, than perhaps a week ago.

Still no need to panic, but the UK must "pull it's socks up."

[DTCwordfan]

So doesn't the diagnosis/screening injection preempt all of this when it comes openly available - last I read it was coming to market in early Dec with a million kits. Primerdesign out of So'ton and there's a German outfit in the game too. It works on RNA identification if I remember right.

[jim360]

Possibly has to be cleared by some board or other before it's available for use?

[237SJ]

I think it would be very difficult to quarantine everybody who has come from that part of West Africa. There are ways via other airports of getting here such as that taken by the nurse and unless people state that they have arrived from infected countries, nobody would know. There are notices in Arrivals at LHR asked people from infected countries to make themselves known. That is all. I do think that medical staff who are known to have had contact with Ebola patients should be quarantined though - I`m amazed that they`re not.

[Zacs-Master]

Last news on Primerdesign was that they were having a meeting with the WHO. Strangely quiet since.

[Sqad]

I still don't understand the test.

The virus does not multiply in the blood at the start of an infection, it multiplies in the live and spleen and then days later, passes into the blodd stream where, then and only then would the test be positive for Ebola.

For days after the infection, the test would be negative.

Have i got it wrong?....Jim? DTC?

[DTCwordfan]

Sqad, I quote from their site:

Principle: Viruses all have a unique genetic fingerprint the same as we do. Ours is encoded in DNA but the Ebola virus uses RNA (Ribonucleic acid). So the kit is designed to specifically detect the Ebola RNA in a patient blood sample.

Process:
- Blood sample is taken from patient
- RNA is extracted with a few simple steps
- RNA is placed in a tube with our kit ingredients
- Tube goes in to machine
- Analysis complete within 90 minutes

[Sqad]

DT>...yes! yes! the procedure is straightforward...........it is the interpretation that concerns me.

Negative in the first few days of an Ebola infected patient.

[DTCwordfan]

Would it come out in any of the liver markers in the blood, the RNA that is? Perhaps we need a biochemist here...as this is beyond my organic chemistry - which is mainly petro-hydrocarbon based anyway....

[Sqad]

DTC...no....at the early stage, evidence of Ebola virus bodies would be found in the liver and spleen..........not amenable to easy access.

[DTCwordfan]

I well know that.....I was once looking at a liver biopsy at Kings down the barrel, living in HK. This came with a routine medical for living in the PRC. Forget the exact marker but the quack thought I had Wilson's Disease and sent me to a consultant....long and short of it, second visit to him and he sends me upstairs in the Prince's Building opposite the Mandarin Oriental to an optician to see if I had any evidence of copper build-up. This chap was an Ozzie and he took one look and said "Go back and tell Mr....., he's off his fecking head sending you up here. You've no more got Wilson's Disease than I have a dry liver."

Went back and the consultant takes another blood sample and lo, the reading was well within and probably even lower than the original as I had been off the booze for 6 weeks, the conclusion that the doctor's technician had got the decimal place wrong! Also, it was good for dieting.....lost about a stone with the worry and lack of ethanol.

[DTCwordfan]

Friends had a laugh at it, given my hair colour and also that I was already showing signs of being mildy mad in their opinion.....

[Sqad]

DTC...LOL

[DTCwordfan]

Well, I wasn't exactly pleased at the time, though the Ozzie did a lot to repair the damage with his words and I just about quoted him verbatim there, Sqad.

Happy New Year, by the way.

[anotheoldgit]

Interesting to type Ebola in the search box and read some past comments on this problem.