Ebola: 21 days or 42 days?

[icrcc]

We have been told that Ebola has an incubation period of 2 to 21 days. This information is being disseminated by the CDC. The WHO on the other hand states that the incubation period can be up to 41 days.  There appears to be some discrepancy between the information being given by the CDC and WHO.

In an article in NaturalNews relating to the WHO report states:
"95% of confirmed cases have an incubation period in the range of 1 to 21 days; 98% have an incubation period that falls within the 1 to 42 day interval. [1]

Unless the sentence structure is somehow misleading, this passage appears to indicate the following:

• 95% of Ebola incubations occur from 1 - 21 days
• 3% of Ebola incubations occur from 21 - 42 days
• 2% of Ebola incubations are not explained (why?)

If this interpretation of the WHO's statistics are correct, it would mean that:
• 1 in 20 Ebola infections may result in incubations lasting significantly longer than 21 days
• The 21-day quarantine currently being enforced by the CDC is entirely insufficient to halt an outbreak"

The article can be found here:      http://www.naturalnews.com/047267_Ebola_outbreak_incubation_period_viral_transmission.html
The WHO statement can be found here:   http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/14-october-2014/en/

[JustABear]

Bottom line.... they don't have a clue.

[kelee877]

Ebola virus is a fluid virus and the incubation period depends on what types of fluid example mucous would be the first fluid in the first few days,next would be blood as the symptoms get worse..and if you recover from Ebola you can still be contagious through sperm so those are your later up to 42 days..


they have to give that first American doctor therapy to get him through the you cannot have sex with your wife for 3 months...

[zeker]

no sex? does that include goatS? just kidding

[icrcc]

We are talking incubation period here not contagious period. The incubation period is the time it takes for the first symptoms to appear after the exposure to the virus.

So you could have been exposed to the virus, have the virus and carry it but not show any symptoms for that time. According to the CDC that time is between 2 and 21 days. However according to the WHO it is between 2 and 42 days. While most do show symptoms earlier it is not true for everyone. This makes a big difference if you are going to monitor potential patients. They are playing the odds with a 21 day quarantine as they realize a 42 day quarantine is not realistic.

We are told that patients are not contagious until they exhibit symptoms. Once a patient exhibits symptoms and if they survive, 70% do not, they can remain contagious through their body fluids for up to three months.