# How Were US Ebola Patients Cured? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830 "2014-11-17T02:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/1 "2014-11-17T02:36:24Z")
The news recently announced all Ebola patients in the US were cured. How exactly was this accomplished when Ebola is a virus and cannot be cured. If you’re going to say it simply runs its course, it is hard for me to imagine that such a deadly virus “simply runs its course”. Perhaps some SDoper in the medical field can explain all this? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/2 "2014-11-17T02:46:23Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > The news recently announced all Ebola patients in the US were cured. How exactly was this accomplished when Ebola is a virus and cannot be cured. If you’re going to say it simply runs its course, it is hard for me to imagine that such a deadly virus “simply runs its course”. Perhaps some SDoper in the medical field can explain all this? they were provided with supportive care, enough such that they lived long enough for their own immune systems to fight off the virus. Ebola causes hemorrhaging and fluid loss, and if you don’t have access to modern medical care that is almost certainly fatal. the people who survived an ebola infection did indeed let it “run its course,” because that supportive care helped them live long enough to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/3 "2014-11-17T03:06:08Z")
It actually isn’t as deadly as the media coverage makes it seem. [The average fatality rate of every known outbreak is ~50%](http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/), which is better than you’d think from the media, though still pretty bad. But that includes every known case, regardless of when it was detected, and how (even IF) the patient was treated. With proper treatment of the symptoms, the fatality rates drop significantly. The US, Canada, Western Europe or anywhere else with an actual functional health care system are going to be at the upper end of the survival rates. So, the fact that all but one of the handful of ebola patients in the US survived long enough to fight off the virus isn’t a surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/4 "2014-11-17T09:54:42Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > If you’re going to say it simply runs its course, it is hard for me to imagine that such a deadly virus “simply runs its course”. Perhaps some SDoper in the medical field can explain all this? This has been discussed in many Ebola threads in this forum in the past months. Rehydration with special formula - and even without treatment the fatality of ebola with basic care is not what the american sensationalist media arms have portrayed. So, yes it is not a magical disease, and it can run its course. In this it seems to be like cholera in the sense that good rehydration treatments change radically the fatality. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/5 "2014-11-17T10:23:30Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > they were provided with supportive care, enough such that they lived long enough for their own immune systems to fight off the virus. Ebola causes hemorrhaging and fluid loss, and if you don’t have access to modern medical care that is almost certainly fatal. Even in primitive locales, the fatality rate from Ebola is “only” around 50%. That’s extremely deadly compared to most viruses, but it’s not an automatic death sentence. In first-world conditions, if the infection is caught early, treatment can increase the odds of survival substantially. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/6 "2014-11-17T12:05:17Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > it is hard for me to imagine that such a deadly virus “simply runs its course”. Facts are facts, no matter how difficult they are for you to put into your head. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/7 "2014-11-17T13:17:27Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > It actually isn’t as deadly as the media coverage makes it seem. [The average fatality rate of every known outbreak is ~50%](http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/), which is better than you’d think from the media, though still pretty bad. But that includes every known case, regardless of when it was detected, and how (even IF) the patient was treated. > > With proper treatment of the symptoms, the fatality rates drop significantly. The US, Canada, Western Europe or anywhere else with an actual functional health care system are going to be at the upper end of the survival rates. So, the fact that all but one of the handful of ebola patients in the US survived long enough to fight off the virus isn’t a surprise. And our one fatality might have done better if he’d been admitted to the hospital when he first showed up with symptoms. Well, maybe not\* that\* hospital… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/8 "2014-11-17T18:13:30Z")
It’s now two fatalities in the US: [Ebola Outbreak: Sierra Leone Doctor Dies in US](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30085116). The article indicates that he was in critical condition when he arrived at the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/9 "2014-11-17T18:28:14Z")
The hospital described his condition. No kidney function when he arrived, then respiratory arrest and needed a ventilator, blood pressure dropped to nothing, then cardiac arrest. All that in 24 hours. > **[Video News - CNN](https://www.cnn.com/videos)** > > Watch breaking news videos, viral videos and original video clips on CNN.com. Ebola is some deadly stuff. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/10 "2014-11-17T18:43:40Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Ebola is some deadly stuff. . . . when basic supportive measures are not implemented (or unavailable) _early on_ during the illness. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/11 "2014-11-17T19:08:12Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > It’s now two fatalities in the US: [Ebola Outbreak: Sierra Leone Doctor Dies in US](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30085116). This means American Ebola fatalities have INCREASED ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!!!111!1 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/12 "2014-11-17T19:22:51Z")
The bigger concern is this guy got sick and was tested. It falsely said he didn’t have Ebola. He was tested again Monday and finally got the right diagnosis. He was dead on the following Mon. No doubt the delay cost him his life. Even worse it gave people around him a false sense of security. I don’t recall exact dates being given. They just said the false test was days before the correct one. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-us-ebola-patients-cured/704830/13 "2014-11-17T19:40:06Z")
So, I guess the Ebola death rate in the US has now doubled.