Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The Abundance of Caution has returned

A woman arrived in NY 3 weeks ago from Guinea and was being monitored (presumably by phone) daily and allegedly had no Ebola symptoms.  But she just died.  No one seems to know why. And so, yes, they will test her remains for Ebola... but only out of an 'abundance of caution.'  What happens to those cases when CDC decides that testing is not needed?
A New York City official briefed on the woman's death told ABC News, "Earlier today, an individual who came to the U.S. from one of the three Ebola-impacted nations in West Africa within last three weeks died of an apparent non-Ebola condition. This individual at no time showed any symptoms of Ebola. However, due to travel history and an abundance of caution, an Ebola test will be performed on this individual's remains. Test results are expected later tonight or early tomorrow morning."
UPDATE Nov 19: "On Wednesday, the test came back negative, [NYC Department of Health] spokesman Levi Fishman told Reuters. Fishman declined to provide any information about the person, including gender, location and time of death." Why the secrecy, then? Elsewhere she is said to be 40 years old, and the Mail has a video clip of a bystander claiming she was bleeding from the nose and mouth. If you pass out and hit your nose or teeth on the ground, you usually bleed in this way.  Heart attacks alone don't cause bleeding. Forty year old women are at low risk of heart attacks.

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