Haven’t seen him, but some people (about 40-50%) do recover from this disease. I don’t think he would have been brought here if he was in really bad shape, because he couldn’t have withstood the trip.
He may remain infectious for awhile, but it looks to me as if they’re isolating him properly. Also, I haven’t heard anything about the woman who was his coworker (I believe she was a hygiene volunteer) who was also brought back. She was the one to whom he gave his dose of the experimental serum.
Interesting to see if there’s a difference in their outcomes.
Aside from that, I think there are probably conditions that exist in Africa that don’t exist here that encourage the spread of Ebola.
However, in general I’d be much more worried about Obama’s “Pan African Conference” next week. There are 10 African heads of state coming, and I think they’ll be pretty safe. But people like that always travel with a retinue that will fill an entire huge plane, so I hope there’s some monitoring going on.
If they can get one or both of those two that they are bringing here cured and healthy, then they might be able to develop a cure for the disease from their blood serum.
That is probably what they are thinking and hoping.
Once he becomes asymptomatic, the clock starts on his body clearing the virus. I’ve seen anywhere from 7 weeks to 60 days before all his secretions are clear of the virus. Then another clock starts. I’ve seen either 21d or 42d before the area can be declared ebola free.
So we’ll know by Thanksgiving or Christmas if Emory has dropped the ball or not.