Question: is the sweat of someone exposed to ebola who has a temp of 99.5 or 100 contagious?

[peacebird]

If they are tested and found to have ebola? I am not wording this well, but I am trying to figure out when they begin "shedding the virus" as the CDC calls it.... Does the sweat carry the virus when someone is in the earliest stages of the disease, as the two Texas nurses were?

[sendero]

1. I really doubt ..

... that there is a definitive answer to that question. People who speak in absolutes about this virus annoy me to no end. They have already caused plenty of damage by basically claiming this virus is hard to catch.

Does anyone really think that the infectiousness of this illness has been thoroughly tested at 99, 99.5, 100, 100.5, 101 etc degrees?

No. Lots of the claims made are based on interpolation and supposition, so if I were you I would assume that such a person IS infectious.

[peacebird]

3. Thank you.

[LisaL]

5. Exactlly.

Nobody knows.

[sendero]

7. Since the fever itself..

... is a result of the body's immune response (which is said to be "late" with ebola as the body does not initially recognize the virus as a threat) and since different people develop fevers more easily than others, I'd guess that some people probably are infectious by the time a fever shows up and some are not.

But that is a GUESS and for the purposes of controlling this disease I think it reasonable to assume that once you have any fever you are infectious. Better to err on the side of caution, which has NOT been the case so far and that is why we now have so many potential victims.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. You say 'nobody knows' but man, when HIV was new nobody knew anything including that there was

such a virus. So rather than indulging in paranoia, we learned to seek out every shred of knowledge that existed because Knowledge = Life.
Back then some people I knew said 'nobody knows anything' each time new knowledge was found. So they rejected the information. Most of them are dead now but some of them just have to live with the terrible things they did to people for no reason, like the people who harassed Ryan White and others. 'Nobody knows' they'd say 'so we can't risk having that kid in the same school as our kids. Maybe we need to burn his house too....'

[davidn3600]

10. Which is why it's odd the CDC even has such stupid thresholds

So having been exposed to Ebola and having a fever of 100.2 degrees is considered safe for flying on a commercial airline, but having a fever of 100.4 isn't?

I'd like to see the science behind that.

One doctor I was listening to said the CDC and the government really messed up by claiming the virus is "hard to catch" and that the chances of an outbreak here is very small. Because what that did is give people, including hospitals and healthcare workers, a false sense of security. People didn't take the proper precautions and didn't put in place protocols that needed to be put in place. I understand the government wants to prevent hysteria and panic at all costs. But treating this virus like it's "impossible to catch if you are in America" is ridiculous. And it caused people (INCLUDING DOCTORS) to not take the virus seriously.

[TorchTheWitch]

12. some people also have lower or higher normal body temp

My doctor when I was a kid used to love to joke that I was dead because my body temperature without any fever never reached 98.6, and my blood pressure is actually so low that I always have to tell anyone taking it that it is or they can't even find it... some actually though the blood pressure machine was busted or their stethoscope was.

In any case, what the nurse's body temperature for HER might have been higher than the numbers mean. These calculations can only be made with the assumption that everyone has a normal body temp of 98.6, and we know that not everyone does.

[cali]

2. It doesn't matter. anyone with a temp who has had possible exposure

to the virus, needs to be quarantined and tested.

[peacebird]

4. I agree, just wondered what real threat the nurses walkabouts posed....

[LisaL]

6. We won't know until they start

showing up with Ebola or not.
CDC now says Amber was possibly symptomatic already several days before she returned to Dallas. So in theory, at least, she could have infected a bunch of people.

[WinkyDink]

8. It's above normal. Do YOU personally care to chance exposure?

[unblock]

11. you can say that about 100, but not really about 99.5

99.5 is certainly within normal variation. 98.6 is an average, there is normal variation from person to person and from time to time depending on a number of factors. something like 98.6 +/- 1.0 would be more accurate for "normal" temperature; 99.5 is within that range.

whether or not 99.5 is a concern depends on the particular individual and those other factors. most of the time it's perfectly normal.

[TorchTheWitch]

9. yes

Sweat is a bodily fluid. Someone with any symptoms of Ebola that are infected are contagious. It's a far larger problem for caregivers since as the symptoms worsen the virus becomes more virulent. Dead bodies are apparently the most toxic. It's really more a matter of the level of risk. Can you get Ebola by touching a sweating person with the early symptoms of a fever and haven't gotten to the stomach pain, vomiting or diarrhea stage yet? Technically, yes. Will you become infected by touching them? If you don't touch any of your mucus membranes or don't have any cuts or fissures on your hand wear the virus gets on your hand and wash your hands then the risk is pretty low. Everyone is different though. If your immune system isn't great you may be more likely to become infected than someone else.

It's a gamble. And with such a deadly disease such a gamble is not one that people should be taking.

[Bluenorthwest]

13. HIV is transmitted in some bodily fluids, but not in sweat.

But I'm sure you knew that. Because no one here would indulge in fear based rhetoric which endangers innocent people.....
Knowledge = Life

[TorchTheWitch]

18. We aren't talking about HIV

HIV is not a BSL-4 virus. It also doesn't kill 70% of the people it infects. Check out any expert you like... CDC, WHO, Doctors Without Borders, etc., etc. Ebola virus is present in the sweat of an infected person who has become symptomatic. Therefore, it is possible to become infected from that sweat or any other bodily fluid they secrete.

Btw, one of my brothers has been HIV positive for somewhere around 10 years now. No one who examines him and his bodily fluids wears a hazmat suit. He takes his meds every day and has been fine.

Knowledge = get some

[In_The_Wind]

17. Kickin' it! Good question.