Saturday, October 18, 2014

Helicopter Sent For Blood Sample


A helicopter landed aboard a cruise ship Saturday to pick up a blood sample from a passenger who may have handled fluids from an Ebola patient ahead of the Carnival Magic’s planned docking at Galveston, Texas, Sunday.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/chopper-lands-blood-sample-ebola-cruise-scare-n228926

Related Post
http://gadfly01.blogspot.com/2014/10/carnival-magic-ebola-threat.html

UPDATE  10/19/14 - Blood tested negative for Ebola

The blood sample tested negative for Ebola, a Carnival spokesperson confirmed. In a statement to passengers titled “7 Things to Know,” the Centers for Disease Control said, “your fellow passenger remains well and has had no symptoms of illness in the 19 days since performing lab test for an Ebola patient as part of their job as a healthcare worker.” By Monday, the hospital worker would no longer have to monitor her health or adhere to any travel restrictions, the CDC said. 
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/cruise-ship-carrying-hospital-worker-docks-blood-tests-negative-ebola-n229091 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please,everybody,say a prayer that the results are negative for this woman.
I can't imagine the horror if these 4300+ people have to be quarantined at sea for the next month on an Ebola ship

Anonymous said...

I've read that according to experts a conclusive polymerse chain reaction test takes 3 - 5 days minimum. The quick test they do that takes a couple of hours are notorious for false negatives.
Symptoms can appear even up to 42 days after exposure and 13% of Ebola patients have no fever.
The procedures being set in place about quarantine time and symptoms by the CDC are still not foolproof.