4 ms·
You suspect, but you don't know. The Spanish nurse was infected while she was treating a patient known to have Ebola. Regardless, one thing is clear - this st
by tsotha 12y ago
You suspect, but you don't know. The Spanish nurse was infected while she was treating a patient known to have Ebola.
Regardless, one thing is clear - this strain of Ebola is far more contagious than earlier strains, and it still falls about in the middle of the normal range in terms of lethality (20% - 80%). If this genie gets out of the bottle it's going to be really bad.
EDIT: At the press conference they said the person was wearing protective gear in all contact with the patient, which seems to me like it would have to be after he tested positive.
- Retric 12y agoSo far there have been 3 US patients that have infected 1 person that's bad, but no real reason to panic. The real risk is if the number of new infections is greater than the number of existing cases.
- tsotha 12y agoThere has to be a middle ground between the blasé attitude US authorities are taking and panic.
- girvo 12y agoWhat makes you think it's blasé? I'm not an American, but from what I've seen from here in Australia your government appears to be taking it seriously, and straddling that middle ground rather well.
- steveklabnik 12y agoMy understanding was that she was infected from touching her eyes shortly after decontamination. I've had really bad allergies for the past few weeks, and have involuntarily rubbed my eyes so many times in that period, I empathize with this a lot. This was said a few comments up: > Health workers that are supposedly well-protected and well-informed about Ebola specifically (at least the spanish nurse was, it's not clear in this case yet). Humans are fallible. I do stuff that I intellectually know is stupid all the time, and those are conscious decisions, not even borderline-reflexive ones like touching your face if there's a random itch.
- tomjen3 12y agoI do stupidish things too - but I don't work with _ebola_.
- eterm 12y agoFrom the article, "But despite telling medical staff he had been in Liberia, he was sent home with painkillers and antibiotics." I think it's probably a fair suspicion in this case.
- hga 12y agoI've read that variously as "Liberia" and "West Africa", and of course the hospital has so far changed its official story once. I suspect the truth will only come out in the almost inevitable litigation, if at all.