Ebola: What You Need to Know

Ebola has come to our shores twice this week, once in Dallas and again in the Washinton, D.C. area. Given the attitude of our government and the Centers for Disease Control, there is a significant lack of necessary information dispensed to the public about this deadly virus. As a retired RN who worked with HIV in the early days before it was controlled, I can offer the basic information from my own professional experience. Here is what the CDC is not telling you. It’s short, concise, and more frightening than the party line.

Don’t panic. These are the same facts you need to know about contagious hepatitis, tuberculosis, or any of a half dozen or so diseases we don’t … didn’t have to face for a long time. The worst news about Ebola is that there is no treatment, no cure, and other than quarantine there is no effective way to limit the number of infections in a human population.

There was an experimental drug, but that was used on those two doctors a month or so ago. One story has it that they ran out before the second doctor could get a full treatment. The bottom line is that there isn’t any more and there are no plans to make any more. Some of you may have heard about the plan to synthesize a vaccine from the blood of those two doctors. In the movies that takes about a scene and a half. In real life it takes 3 to 20 years with very low success rates. Most experimental medicines never see the light of day. That is just the way science works – miracles yes, but not on-demand.

In the middle to late stages of Ebola infection the patient loses control of his body fluids. That means he is sweating, puking, and pooping uncontrollably. Anything soiled with one of these three fluids remains infectious while wet and up to 4 hours after drying.

Ebola transmits through Body Fluids and through Skin Contact. Ebola lives up to 4 hours in trace fluids. This means that you CAN get Ebola from a Toilet Seat and from being in the vicinity of a sneeze or a cough. It also means sweaty sheets and linens, handkerchiefs and tissues, and stray toilet paper can be infectious. Drinking from the same glass and eating off the same plate could be (lower probability) infectious. One should ALWAYS wash these items thoroughly BEFORE any reuse by anyone. Toothbrushes and other personal care items can also be infectious, especially if they retain any of these fluids after use.

Body Fluids (in near alphabetical order):

Blood

Diarrhea
Oily Secretions (Hair grease)
Snot (Including Sneeze Spray)
Sputum
Saliva
Spit
Stool
Sweat
Tears

Urine
Vomit