People Carrying Ebola, in Some Cases, May Be Free of Symptoms

[apples and oranges]

The possibility of asymptomatic infection was only suggested in earlier studies, they said in last week's issue of The Lancet, a medical journal published in London. Now they said they had documented such infections for the first time. They found that the Ebola virus could persist in the blood of asymptomatic infected individuals for two weeks after they were first exposed to an infected individual. How much longer the virus can persist is unknown.

All outbreaks of Ebola have been controlled by standard infection control measures such as effective body disposal, destroying or sterilizing contaminated equipment and appropriate use of gloves. But if people can be carriers without showing symptoms, it means control might be more difficult.

''This degree of containment would be virtually impossible if symptom-free carriers posed a significant threat of infection,'' Dr. Alan G. Baxter of Newtown, Australia, wrote in an editorial in the same issue of The Lancet.

Scientists have known that Ebola usually spreads from an infected person to another individual and through contamination in clinics or hospitals. The new finding suggests that some cases may result from healthy carriers. How often is unknown. The finding could help scientists in their long-term quest to develop effective therapies to treat the virus or perhaps even a vaccine to prevent infection.

NYTimes Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/27/world/people-carrying-ebola-in-some-cases-may-be-free-of-symptoms.html

Direct Link To Study: http://tinyurl.com/pu2a74c

[Yo_Mama]

1. Which is why it is spreading through the health care system in Africa

It's been obvious for over six weeks that it is, which is why in the areas most affected, the people are now striving to prevent health care workers from coming into the areas.

And that Dr. Sacra was working in a maternity hospital. It seems obvious that he got it from a person who was carrying the virus but asymptomatic. Probably the poor pregnant lady who died and who Duncan was trying to help right before she died contracted it from a clinic where she went for maternity care! She was seven months pregnant when she died, according to media reports.

Now asymptomatic patients are not going to infect people with whom they come in casual contact, but they can infect health care workers and people with whom they have intimate contact.

So there's a whole layer of possible exposures that have not been accounted for, and once the cases get high enough, it's very difficult to control.