(10-20-2014, 08:56 AM)Happyflowerlady Wrote: I don't see why in thhe world they couldn't just test the dog for the ebola virus, and then act accordingly. They test the humans that get sick from ebola to make sure that is what is wrong with them, and apparently, sometimes it doesn't even take much to tell.
The person who got sick on the airplane and then died; they were able to say right away that it was not ebola that he died from.
Why they sometimes need a couple of days and more blood tests to tell, and other times they know right away just doesn't make any sense to me; but then, I am not a doctor.
I agree that the dog should not have to live the rest of his life in quarantine. I thought it would only be a few weeks like they do with people to make sure they are not infected. If the dog would be contagious the rest of his life, then putting him to sleep was probably the only viable option in this case.
If Ebola testing is the same as most infection testing then it does not test for the virus itself - viruses are too small. It will test for antibody response - if a person has anti bodies to Ebola then they have Ebola.
The problem with this regards dogs is their anti bodies will be different from human ones - a human test will not work on them.
Then there are other issues - there is a difference between having the disease and being infectious. A person off a plane may have no symptoms but tests show they are infected and about to become sick. This person will not be infectious. A person recovered from the disease will also test positive for a while - perhaps forever, but again will not be infectious (we think). So to take that to dogs - we know that dogs do not get Ebola in its human form - but may carry it. So they can invent a test to see if a dog is carrying it but that will not tell us if the dog is infectious to humans. Before we can decide what to do with dogs who have had contact with Ebola we have to know if they carry it, for how long do they carry it, are they infectious to humans while carrying it, and for how long are they infectious to humans. That is going to take quite a time to research and at the moment all energies are on researching a cure for humans.
Worst case scenario would be if dogs and Ebola are like Monkeys and a type of Herpes that is fatal to humans - a monkey has a mild disease response but remains a carrier throughout its life and is infectious to humans throughout its life and the only option for areas where contact with humans is expected is to destroy the monkey because while the monkey is fine it is very very dangerous to humans. If dogs can carry Ebola and remain capable of infecting humans for their whole life any infected dog will have to be destroyed.
