Dr. very sick with ebola has died. He tested free of virus.
 

I've read accounts that there is no test out there to check for ebola. So the question goes...how do "they" diagnose it in the 1st place? Also...the only accounts we hear of it are in African countries. Why not Asia or South America or even here? The folks "here" who have it have been in Africa!

They really didn't hold out much hope that he would survive. My heart goes out to his family and friends. I'm praying that those who embraced him after false negative results remain healthy.

THIS is why the nurse in Maine and her followers were way too flippant:

Salia, a Sierra Leone citizen who was a permanent resident of the U.S. and lived in Maryland, first showed Ebola symptoms on Nov. 6 but tested negative for the virus. He eventually tested positive on Monday.

So let's see. Nov. 6 was Thursday, when he tested negative. He tested positive on Monday the 10th.

WHEN he tested positive 4 days after being negative, he was immediately so sick he was apparently beyond treatment. That means he was immediately highly contagious the day or two before!

Without quarantining people coming from such exposure places or work sites, they could unknowingly infect hundreds of the healthcare workers most qualified to fight and treat it!

I don't know when people are going to wake up about how easily and quickly this thing can be spread, and only a few centers like Omaha and Emory are equipped and able and funded to have 7 nurses at a time, plus legions of other staff taking care of patients like Nina Pham and Amber Vinson needed.

If one of these hospitals got 10-20 ebola patients--some of whom are the hospital's staff nurses, doctors and techs--they'd have to shut down and all the hundreds of existing patients would be up s*** creek without a paddle.

We should all be careful to avoid opinion and speculation and try to get the facts. The first test was three days after he began to show a fever and was done by a Chinese group volunteering in Africa. The test is a DNA based test and does take some time to run. Five days later he felt worse and a second test was run by the hospital in Freeport Africa. The positive result led to his being brought back to the US. So over 8 days had passed from the initial symptoms. Bottom-line, there is a test. He had been ill for well over 8 days before he began receiving treatment in the US.

What you read is incorrect. There are two tests for Ebola, an enzyme test and a test that points up the virus's DNA.

The general information on Ebola by a reputable(to me anyway) health institution is sketchy. Less than a dozen patients have been treated here in the U.S. Probably the most wise are virologists.. They are all doing a great job, but it is learning as you go. We don't know enough yet to allay fears about how this disease works for sure.

We do know that we now have a select number of hospitals in the US highly trained and fully set up to deal with Ebola patients, and we know that no one in the US has died from Ebola or even caught it from a foreigner since the two mis-trained nurses working with Mr. Duncan in a hospital not properly set up to handle the disease treatment.

We do know that none of the dire predictions given by the fear mongers wanting to quarantine healthcare workers returning to the US whether sick or not, or ban all travel to West Africa, or ban all people returning from West Africa, have not come to pass.

I don't agree. Ten patients do not make for a lot of information. I am still very upset about how the administration has handled, or rather mishandled this issue. Still no surgeon general, a Tsar who never Tsared. News conferences with returning health workers, and a big mouth nurse who should have had a talking to.

We are getting a general feeling about how this disease is passed, but it could have been a huge mess.

Good point Gracie - the ebola czar hasn't been heard from, but I'm sure is collecting a hefty salary. What a wonderful government we have and once again I'll say how prosperous this country would be if we only knew what we were doing.

And isn't it sad how the recent beheading and the recent death of someone from ebola barely is a blip on the radar screen now. The media is focused on Ferguson and the potential riots about to happen there.

But my point is that it wasn't a huge mess. It was handled.

I can't answer you about the surgeon general or it would be removed as being political.

Many people on the forum want the government to stay out of their lives. Except when they want it to meddle with others' lives. I know I will get slammed for saying that. Bring it on!

Here is what happens. A thread starts off okay but then posts start to have unrelated side comments which then lead to politics which leads to closing the thread. It's like Groundhog Day.

I agree with CFrance that the ebola issue has been and is being handled.

I also do not understand how the topic of ebola becomes a political issue.

I still think that major medical centers' nursing, physician and technician staffs….AND firefighter-paramedic units and long-haul "isopod" transporters could be decimated with a number of simultaneous ebola cases, largely because of this:

"There are four hospitals with biocontainment facilities in the United States, and they have 11 beds that can be used at any one time for Ebola patients, officials told ABC News."

Eleven beds in the whole country that are leakproof…..

US Has Capacity for 11 Ebola Patients at Specialized Hospitals - ABC News

I honestly dont see anyone raising any political issues. A poster questioned the silence of both the surgeon general and the czar....that was all.

Everyone does know that despite the politics in naming an appointee we DO HAVE an acting surgeon general ???

The FACTS as broadcast tonight on the National News, were that the Doctor arrived in this country already suffering from Kidney and Respiratory failure. His prognosis was grim from the start and he could not be saved from the virus. There was no mention that he was declared virus free and sent home. He was very sick when he got here and could not be saved.

Here's an article today that calls it a "mistaken" ebola test…not sure why they call it mistaken, but am guessing it's because he had obvious symptoms when first tested(?)

"FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — When Martin Salia’s Ebola test came back negative, his friends and colleagues threw their arms around him. They shook his hand. They patted him on the back. They removed their protective gear and cried.

But when his symptoms remained nearly a week later, Salia took another test, on Nov. 10. This one came back positive, sending the Sierra Leonean doctor with ties to Maryland on a desperate, belated quest for treatment and forcing the colleagues who had embraced him into quarantine.

“We were celebrating. If the test says you are Ebola-free, we assume you are Ebola-free,” said Komba Songu M’Briwa, who cared for Salia at the Hastings Ebola Treatment Center in Freetown. “Then everything fell apart…….”

A doctor