Ebola, serologic test

[Kai Matthews]

roberts at thorin.uthscsa.edu (J.P. ROBERTS, MD) wrote:

[bulk of useful & interesting post clipped]

>Bear in mind that since Ebola's incubation period (the time
>from infection until illness) is up to 15 days and there is no
>rapid serologic test, it will be 2-3 weeks before we
>can know whether the current outbreak is contained.
>
>--- John P. Roberts, MD (roberts at uthscsa.edu)
>    San Antonio, Texas
>    "It bothers people when you are lucid and ironic." - A. Camus
>
>

Is it really true that there is no rapid serologic test? [This of course 
begs the question of what is meant by "rapid".] Does one really have to 
wait until symptoms pop up? This doesn't seem correct, from what 
limited resources I've read [being a non-virologist.]

That aside, it would seem that the incubation period alone will preclude 
knowing before another week or so whether the outbreak is contained, 
with at least a second wave of transmission to consider [those family
members sneaking into hospitals and whatnot.] 

Thanks for any info on this point. [And thanks in advance for the 
patience and forbearance of the regular readers of his group.]

Regards,   Kai

[BTW, the "apocalypse" domain name is a dark humor in-joke [re: Waco, 
Tx] amongst the folks who maintain the server my account's on - not 
any sort of reference to the current situation. Just an unfortunate 
coincidence or synchronicity, as your wont may be.]