. New study suggests Ebola patients could still be contagious after three-week quarantine 

 

Twenty one days has been embraced by health experts as the appropriate quarantine time for Ebola patients, but a new study suggests the virus may pose a serious threat beyond the three-week mark.

 

In his new research paper titled ‘On the Quarantine Period for Ebola Virus‘ published in PLOS Currents: Outbreaks on Tuesday, Dr Charles Haas, of Drexel University, argues that some patients may remain contagious longer than 21 days, thus raising the risk of an epidemic.

 

According to Haas, a professor of environmental engineering specializing in microbiological risk assessment, the 21-day isolation period that has been recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization is based on potentially flawed data from the 1976 Ebola outbreak in Zaire.

 

Haas argues that the sample size of cases to come out of that epidemic was only 109, giving the CDC and the WHO a very small data set to work with.

 

A University of Texas professor said she was "disgusted" on an American Airlines flight as the crew, she believes was fearing the spread of Ebola, kept a woman who had vomited shut in the plane's bathroom.