Are the family members of Duncan showing symptoms

It sure is strange that the girlfriend is not ill; what no kissing even?  Is it possible that Duncan knew and kept away from his family to save them from ebola.  Unfortunately some innocent health care workers have to suffer the consequences of a Liberian seeking treatment here.  

There must be 1 - 2 cases that have nothing to do with the healthcare workers, whether it is with the family or not.   The healthcare workers were expected. 

I'm assuming we will see a couple more cases.  Louise Troh invoked HIPAA laws i believe.  They may announce a family members over the next day or two.  

Their quarantine ends on Oct 19th.

The NYT said Duncan rode in the cab when they tried to take the woman to the Ebola ward.

I too was wondering about Duncan's family members that was living with him. One would think at least one of them would have fallen ill with ebola a well being they were in an apartment that did not appear to be that large for 4-5 people. It's not like they could go to another "wing" of the apartment/house to get away from Duncan. They had close contact no matter how far across the room they were from him. It would be a miracle if none of them get sick. I pray for a miracle for them. This sounds like a HORRIBLE and painful illness/death.

Kay wrote: The paper said they were turned away from the Ebola ward for lack of space I don't know why people are acting like he didn't know.

You are right. The articles are posted in AFT.

He knew. Sorry but I feel like the reports we've seen prove he knew. His whole village was affected by it.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Ebola-Victims-Family-Prepares-to-Leave-Quarantine-279633312.html

Jade4now wrote: Thank you Technophobe for showing humanity in your post. So much ugliness in some people's comments, such as wishing certain people "get it first" because they don't happen to like them, that I saw on a recent post. Duncan tried to help someone. And no good deed goes unpunished when people have the opportunity to vent their spleen, anonymously, on line. Thank you for taking the high road.

Didnt post article but if you read the nephew says first Duncan is returning then later says it's Duncans first trip to the states. Anyway sounds like the hospital is getting all the blame.

I WONDER IF THEY ARE SEROPOSITIVE ???????

There are quite a few studies suggesting widespread asymptomatic infections including one that found 46% of asymptomatic close contacts of patients with Ebola were seropositive. Meaning they had been infected but did not develop symptoms.

The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 16 October 2014
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61839-0

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.

Ebola control: effect of asymptomatic infection and acquired immunity.

Steve E Bellan aEmail Address, Juliet R C Pulliam c d, Jonathan Dushoff e, Lauren Ancel Meyers

Abstract
Evidence suggests that many Ebola infections are asymptomatic, a factor overlooked by recent outbreak summaries and projections. Particularly, results from one post-Ebola outbreak serosurvey showed that 71% of seropositive individuals did not have the disease; another study reported that 46% of asymptomatic close contacts of patients with Ebola were seropositive. Although asymptomatic infections are unlikely to be infectious, they might confer protective immunity and thus have important epidemiological consequences. (Such individuals may also be a source of protective antibodies/ serum donors, and or potential to be additional healthcare assistants)


Asymptomatic infection contributes to herd immunity and thereby dampens epidemic spread.

Full text of the article link below.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61839-0/fulltext

Yet more evidence that Ebola kills indirectly, via an immune system overreaction, commonly called a 'cytokine storm'.  90% of people infected with TB don't have symptoms. In the other 10%, it's the cytokine storm that causes the damage.

I agree 7, as like with the flu, not everyone will get it.  Plus we have no idea about the precautions the family took knowing he probably had it - and whole real story.   You would think a personal contact of Duncan's should still show symptoms, but who knows.

Jen it depends on what blood work was done.

1) Test 1 = Viral PCR:

If they were using the standard test that has been applied throughout this Ebola outbreak then they would only be testing for the presence of viral genetic material in blood. This is done by PCR i.e. gives the standard negative/positive test results. Heres the thing, it will only be positive if the virus is detected at certain levels, however asymptomatic patients may have little or short term viral loads not easy to detect. So in theory asymptomatic patients may be negative by viral PCR blood test.

Test 2 = detecting antibodies against the virus ( rather that virus itself) test is called an ELISA test.

This test would be to determine if the patients are seropositive (as proof of exposure by the generation of antibodies to the virus, rather thsn the virus itself ), this would be looking for an antibody class called IgM initially around Day 10 to day 21. I doubt IgG (a later antibody class) would be generated at this point.

I don't know if they have good human IgM testing as epitopes ( bit of the virus that antibody binds to),for IgM class of antibody are not always specific enough. Detecting IgG ELISA tends to be more specific, more accurate but IgG is made later in responses.

I think they are testing other survivers for IgG titres to Ebola antigens, but they don't know enough to even guarantee that they are now immune to reinfection.   This makes me think the antibody testing isn't the greatest.....could be wrong.

Also think test 2 ( ELISA test) is more of an experimental protocol so would require written permission from those being tested. Not sure if current court order covers just basic positive/negative PCR testing only. Depends on what testing family agree to.

Immunity after exposure is not a given, depends on immunostatus of host, and pathogenic agent. Tetanus agent gives 10 year protection, however Norovirus only 11 weeks. All immunological memory responses ( recall on re-exposure) are not equal.

My opinion anyway.

Some people believe in luck or in circumstance. Other people believe in cause and effect.”
( Ralph Waldo Emerson)


I think you are right when you said in another post that there is something other than luck which has caused their strange immunity ( in all of them).    A lot can be learned from them remaining negative, if the family are prepared to be honest about how they dealt with the situation.

If they remained in close contact, cleaned up after him, then what is their blood type, HLA type etc. What can be learned from an infection control point of view, or about infectibility. When he got sent home initially from hospital they probably had a strong idea something was amiss. They were Liberian they would have known what was going on back home, what steps did they take? There is no shame in them protecting themselves.

If they lied ( some papers say that although he had not seen his son since he was 3 years old, and despite being in Dallas and initially well for several days, Mr Duncan still hadn't made attemptsvto meet him ??? ). Did he avoid his son because he had an idea, or was it just circumstances.

I am sure the story will come out eventually. The problem is the family are giving all different accounts probably not helped by the press hounding them. A few days ago in the NYT Mr Duncan's nephew now says he certainly did not help a pregnant woman with Ebola, as was speculated.

Everyone seems to be accusing everyone of something, it is a very strange case.