Kaci Hickox says that science should guide public policy on Ebola (“Quarantined nurse emerges, plans legal fight if state gets court order,” Oct. 29). She and the Portland Press Herald would have us feel guilty for feeling afraid of her and Ebola. She says science should guide our responses, not fear.

Here’s a piece of science that Hickox and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention haven’t gone to great lengths to publicize.

In a study funded by the World Health Organization, it was found that 13 percent of patients with Ebola didn’t show elevated body temperature when the disease had progressed to the point that the patients’ body fluids were infectious.

Hickox still complains about New Jersey and their new policy of Ebola containment. Does she know that the New Jersey policy is based 100 percent on the science of the latest CDC recommendations?

The Press Herald (“Our View: Maine’s Ebola reaction based on fear, not science,” Nov. 2) says that “you can’t catch Ebola … like a cold.” Well, recently the CDC quietly added nasal mucus to the list of liquids that can carry the Ebola virus.

The Press Herald says that “you can’t catch Ebola from someone who doesn’t have it.” Yes, Kaci Hickox has been tested, but the tests that detect Ebola will test positive only if someone has an active infection. The 21-day incubation period is the time it takes after exposure for most people develop an infection. The tests will not detect whether someone has been exposed to Ebola.

My opinion: Being overly cautious is not the same as fear. As a Ph.D virologist, I fear Ebola and don’t trust the CDC and Food and Drug Administration, and certainly not the Press Herald, to know the absolute truth about the science of Ebola.

Scott Clark
Cape Elizabeth

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