Yesterday at my son's place of work the first Ebola scare triggered a lot of reactions. An employee of the firm started coughing, telling everybody in a conference room that he had just returned from a trip to Africa and was feeling sick! I'm sure the people sharing the room must have felt very uncomfortable. It took an entire day to find out where this employee exactly went in Africa, etc. My son works for a company providing services to this large firm. Apparently this man did not come from West Africa, he also got some kind of write-up for his behavior and today will see some action, protocol to establish regarding Ebola and how to react to such news. Even the CDC seem to take new measures every day, hospitals do not really have a policy in place while organizing themselves. The virus usually lives for about two hours outside a body, although some give a lifespan of a few days on hard surfaces.
Are we overreacting or simply playing safe? This virus was identified in 1976. In the late 90s while working in New York City, a co-worker fell ill and died in two days. She tested positive for Ebola (previously known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever.) Nevertheless we were told to go to a nearby laboratory (servicing the company) and get tested if we felt feverish, with a sore throat or even fatigue and if we had been in close contact with this patient. I had been in close contact and felt under-the-weather so I went to this facility where the doctor just performed a swab test.
I was told that the odds were extremely small in contracting the disease as the virus doesn't live long in the air and is acquired by direct contact with blood or body fluid similar to HIV. The firm, spread over 12 floors, was never quarantined either at the time. Since this took place on a Friday I stayed inside voluntarily for three days awaiting results. In the end nobody ever tested positive for Ebola. A far cry from what is happening now at Least in the U.S., where some even want to forbid air travel, I just heard France suspended flights to and from Sierra Leone.
I guess the future will tell.
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