New Jersey - Hospital officials say not ebola: Man, 35, evaluated for ebola after being sick on plane, daughter also accompanying - possible travelers

[Dani]

Re: CDC Officials to Meet Newark Plane Carrying Sick Passenger: Authorities

Re: CDC Officials to Meet Newark Plane Carrying Sick Passenger: Authorities

It sounds pretty good, but certainly the pre-test probability was high.....
A rapid diagnostic test would really be of great benefit.

 

[Chicagogal]

Re: CDC Officials to Meet Newark Plane Carrying Sick Passenger: Authorities

Re: CDC Officials to Meet Newark Plane Carrying Sick Passenger: Authorities

This is the latest on the Tulane/Corgenix test. There was an abstract about it at the AACC this summer.

It sounds like the Tulane researcher believes it's ready to go, since it's based on Lassa. However, the 501(k) approval will likely take another 18 months.

 

[sharon sanders]

Airline Passenger Does Not Have Ebola Virus, Hospital Officials in New Jersey Say

By EMMA G. FITZSIMMONSOCT. 4, 2014

After a sick passenger on a flight from Brussels to Newark Liberty International Airport was taken to a hospital in New Jersey on Saturday amid concern that he could have the Ebola virus, hospital officials said on Saturday night that the patient had another condition not related to the virus.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/n...r-tests-amid-ebola-fears.html?smid=tw-nytimes

 

[spit]

Re: New Jersey - Hospital officials say not ebola: Man, 35, evaluated for ebola after being sick on plane, daughter also accompanying - possible travelers from Liberia

New to posting to this board, though I've been reading it for years. That means that I have the advantage of "knowing" many of you, while I'm out of nowhere in reverse, of course.

I just wanted to say this: please, all, be careful to separate early media reports from official communications, and that's true even when the official communications are less than ideal. Frankly, I think that the official communications in all of this have been pretty bad. But the media also has a strong tendency to twist or misunderstand statements, and then report paraphrased versions of things that make even less sense than the official statements might.

All are useful, but all have to be read with a huge grain of salt. Especially when everybody is (rightfully) concerned, but those without experience watching this are (understandably) easily misled.

Many hopes that it turns out to be something else entirely. With this kind of surveillance happening on a disease that has pretty nonspecific early symptoms, there are bound to be a lot of heart-stopping false negatives, not that they should make anybody feel complacent.

Re: the diagnostic testing, my understanding is that it hasn't been terribly well validated, and I would assume that any testing would depend on the viral load at the time that the sample was taken. But we have to work with what we have in reality. I'm sure everybody involved will probably be monitored on some level.

Re: the rest, I'm plenty prone to conjecture, but please recognize it as such. This situation is hairy enough for the world without adding layers of even worse imagined scenarios on top, at least if you take them too seriously. I could what-if myself to death, but I know I'd be better off if I wait for the best info I can get and think critically, even of my own conjecture.

All just my copper coins. I very much hope that this situation indeed does turn out to be ok. If it does, I also assume that Mr. Duncan is not the last Ebola patient that will turn up in this country.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: New Jersey - Hospital officials say not ebola: Man, 35, evaluated for ebola after being sick on plane, daughter also accompanying - possible travelers from Liberia

Nice to see you've come in out of the cold. Welcome.

Yes, those early media reports almost regularly contain errors. Wait about 6+ hours for the true facts to emerge.

.

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: New Jersey - Hospital officials say not ebola: Man, 35, evaluated for ebola after being sick on plane, daughter also accompanying - possible travelers from Liberia

CDC Newsroom


Update: Sick airline passenger, Newark

On October 4, CDC's Quarantine Public Health Officer met a flight arriving from Brussels, Belgium at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport to assess a sick passenger who had traveled from West Africa. The passenger was evaluated at a local hospital in coordination with federal, state, and local public health officials. Full medical evaluation revealed no evidence or concern for Ebola, and the patient was discharged from the emergency department feeling well.

CDC coordinated with federal, state, local, and hospital officials to ensure all precautionary protocols were followed. Similarly, out of an abundance of caution, CDC provided other passengers with information they would have needed to monitor their health, should it have been determined that the ill passenger's condition was contagious. Together with the airline and the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection, CDC also collected contact information and travel plans from the other passengers should we had needed to re-contact them.

http://www.cdc.gov/media/index.html#update

 

[spit]

Re: New Jersey - Hospital officials say not ebola: Man, 35, evaluated for ebola after being sick on plane, daughter also accompanying - possible travelers from Liberia

Very glad to hear it and thank you for the update, Pathfinder.

Thanks for the welcome, Denise. And thank you all for all you have been doing for so long, it's been a really helpful repository for raw and pertinent public health information for me for a lot of years now. I hope I can contribute something helpful somewhere.

 

[spit]

Re: New Jersey - Hospital officials say not ebola: Man, 35, evaluated for ebola after being sick on plane, daughter also accompanying - possible travelers from Liberia

Lordy, I only realized the several sets of my _own_ misspeak that were in there. I hope the point was clear, and will generally continue to figure it was clear enough unless anybody communicates confusion about the word-salad I occasionally write.

It's not that late for most people in CA, but for narcoleptics, it is way past bedtime.

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: New Jersey - Hospital officials say not ebola: Man, 35, evaluated for ebola after being sick on plane, daughter also accompanying - possible travelers from Liberia

Welcome to FluTrackers, Spit.

You are absolutely correct that often initial media reports on novel or infectious disease cases contain inaccuracies. In countries with a high Press Freedom Index public media reports will almost always proceed official announcements. In these countries media outlets will sacrifice fact checking to be the first to publish a story. Generally, we hope that later official announcements will have correct information in more detail.

In countries with a low freedom of press index, official communications are almost the only reports available. Information from those countries is strictly controlled. In a number recent outbreaks, notably H7N9 and MERS, the only cases details released to the public are those that the governments are inclined to release.

As a long time reader you know that our threads are organized chronologically. The more correct and accurate information is provided in the most recent posts in the thread, not the leading post. But, the FluTrackers team makes every effort to update the title of thread when any new information is available. If a suspected Ebola cases is later reported to be negative (as in this thread), the thread title is changed to reflect this information as noted in post #23 above.