Viruses, Infections & Disease, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 25, 2014

Explained: What to Do if You Get Ebola (Infographic)

Travelers entering the United States from Ebola-stricken countries are given an instruction pack for self-monitoring (at right). The pack includes a digital thermometer, wallet cards and several information sheets. Patients are instructed to be on the lookout for fever, headaches and body aches for 3 weeks. Patients check their temperature...

Oct 27, 2014

Ebola: Here's Why Travel Bans Could Make Americans Less Safe

Ebola is spreading rapidly in West Africa, and the first cases of people in the United States who have the deadly virus have been reported. Now, Americans are getting increasingly jittery about importing the deadly disease, new polls show. In a recent Washington Post and ABC news poll, 67 percent...

Oct 27, 2014

CDC Issues New Guidelines for Travelers from Ebola-Outbreak Countries

In new guidelines for people who enter the U.S. from countries in West Africa where the Ebola outbreak is ongoing, officials recommend that some travelers undergo direct active monitoring of their health by public health authorities for 21 days, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced...

Oct 28, 2014

2nd Dallas Nurse Free of Ebola

The second Dallas nurse to be infected with Ebola is now free of the virus, and will be released from the hospital today (Oct. 28). The nurse, Amber Vinson, has recovered and will be discharged from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, the hospital said. Vinson is the fourth patient with...

Oct 28, 2014

Ebola Recovery: How Did Dallas Nurses Get Well So Quickly?

The two nurses in Dallas who became infected with Ebola this month may have recovered so quickly because of their youth, as well as the protective equipment they were wearing at the time of infection, according to a doctor who has treated Ebola patients. Today (Oct. 28), nurse Amber Vinson,...

Oct 29, 2014

Stopping Ebola: How Small Changes Make a Big Difference

NEW YORK — Small changes in the way Ebola interventions are carried out in West Africa could make a big difference in curbing the growth of the epidemic, experts said this week. Modest changes of performance, could be the factor that determines whether there is an exponential rise in cases,...

Oct 30, 2014

Ebola 'Patient Zero': How Outbreak Started from Single Child

When Ebola virus came for the first time to a small village in Guinea, the victim was a toddler, who later became known to the world as Patient Zero. He died on Dec. 6, 2013, at age 2, and the domino effect of his illness has spiraled into the outbreak...

Oct 30, 2014

Death or Full Recovery? Ebola Outcome May Depend on Your Genes

People infected with Ebola vary greatly in how severe their symptoms are. The majority die, but some develop only very mild symptoms, and it is even possible that some have no symptoms at all. Now, a new study in mice suggests that genetics plays a role in how each body...

Oct 30, 2014

Can You Really Get Ebola from a Sneeze?

The Ebola virus can spread through contact with an infected person's blood, feces and vomit, but some information online suggests it's also possible to get Ebola by being near an infected person who sneezes. Experts say it's extremely unlikely that Ebola could spread through a sneeze. And in fact, this...

Oct 31, 2014

How Ebola Spreads in the US: Myth vs. Reality

When talking about the current West African Ebola outbreak, it is important to look at the facts. Ebola can only spread to people who have direct contact either with an infected person's blood or other bodily fluids, or with objects that were very recently contaminated with those fluids. The virus...

Oct 31, 2014

How Do Ebola Vaccines Work?

Two experimental vaccines against Ebola are currently being tested to see whether they are safe to use in people, and health officials have said that millions of doses could be available by the end of next year. But how do the vaccines work? Both vaccines essentially consist of a harmless...

Nov 3, 2014

Is Ebola Outbreak Entering New Phase?

The reports of declining rates of new Ebola cases in Liberia, announced by the World Health Organization on Oct. 29, fueled hopes that the outbreak response is working, but experts are cautioning that it is too soon to believe the epidemic has entered a new phase, with slower growth. Liberia...

Nov 5, 2014

More Intensive Care Could Improve Ebola Survival Rates, Researchers Say

Using more-aggressive Ebola-treatment measures — such as delivering abundant amounts of fluids intravenously, and carefully monitoring patients' electrolyte levels — could help more Ebola patients survive, a new report concludes. But administering this level of care requires health care workers to spend a great deal of time on each patient....

Nov 7, 2014

New Ebola Protective Gear Added to CDC Stockpile

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has bought more personal protective equipment for health care workers to wear while treating Ebola patients, the agency said today (Nov. 7). The equipment cost $2.7 million, and will be added to the CDC's Strategic National Stockpile, which keeps large quantities of...

Nov 10, 2014

NY Doctor with Ebola May Have Recovered

The New York City doctor Craig Spencer, who was the first and so far the only Ebola patient in the city, will be released from Bellevue Hospital Center on Tuesday morning, according to The New York Times. The 33-year-old doctor contracted Ebola while treating patients in Guinea. He returned to...