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Message no. 1
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject: VITAS related question
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 14:40:10 -0600
At what phase of a disease is a person contagious?

Are they contagious as soon as their infected?

Or are they contagious after symptoms manifest?

-David
--
"Earn what you have been given."
--
email: dbuehrer@******.carl.org
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 2
From: Erik Jameson <erikj@****.COM>
Subject: Re: VITAS related question
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 17:01:55 -0400
At 02:40 PM 9/25/98 -0600, you wrote:
>At what phase of a disease is a person contagious?

Would depend on the disease methinks.

>Are they contagious as soon as their infected?

Probably. Plenty of folks spread disease around without realizing they are
a carrier. *However* depending on the mode of transmission, this might be
a moot point. If it's an airborne contagion manifesting in the respiratory
tract, then mere breathing will spread the disease. If it's bloodborne,
well, disease transmission takes a little more work then.

But generally this is the most *dangerous* time for disease transmission
because the carriers don't know they are contagious and therefor don't take
any sort of preventative action.

>Or are they contagious after symptoms manifest?

This would be probably the most contagious period for most diseases. This
is when people are sneezing, coughing, weezing, spitting blood, sweating,
all sort of stuff. And chances are really high that those fluids are going
to be carrying the contagion.

Keep in mind however that symptoms tend to persist for a while longer after
the disease itself has been fought off and the person is no longer
contagious. This depends on the person and the disease. After a nose
cold, you might have an extra day of sniffles and that's it. Whereas I'll
have nasal congestion for a week or two.

Really good movie for this sort of thing is...damn, going blank on this
name too..."Outbreak" I think it was, with Dustin Hoffman and Renee Russo,
where an Ebola virus variant infects an entire Oregon town. Not a bad
flick overall and should give you the basic information you'd need to run
something wicked like that in Shadowrun...

Erik J.


http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/dungeon/480/index.html
The Reality Check for a Fictional World
Message no. 3
From: Tim Kerby <drekhead@***.NET>
Subject: Re: VITAS related question
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 23:19:24 -0400
> At what phase of a disease is a person contagious?

> Are they contagious as soon as their infected?
>
> Or are they contagious after symptoms manifest?


I'll answer these all together, since that's easiest.

The answers depend a lot on the type of disease -- and incidentally,
the only diseases in the broad sense which are considered to be
contagious are infectious ones caused by bacteria, fungi, parasites,
viruses, and prions.

[In other words, people can't infect each other with allergies or
diabetes, for instance.]

With some infectious diseases, the carrier is contagious soon after
he or she is infected, and in the initial phases of symptoms, but not
long after that. Diseases like this would be Hepatitis A (causes a
short term food-borne liver illness) and the flu.

With others, a person is only contagious at the time he or she is
experiencing symptoms -- such as herpes.

And with still others, once a person is infected, he or she is always
contagious. Examples of this are HIV and Epstein-Barr virus (which
causes mononucleosis).

And that's all I can remember of the conversation this evening with
my doctor friend.

--

=================================================================
- Tim Kerby - drekhead@***.net - ICQ-UIN 2883757 -
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Reality is the only obstacle to happiness." - Unknown
Message no. 4
From: K in the Shadows <Ereskanti@***.COM>
Subject: Re: VITAS related question
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 03:45:20 EDT
In a message dated 9/25/1998 3:40:32 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG writes:

> At what phase of a disease is a person contagious?

During the incubation stages for many "flu like" ones, and longer periods of
time for others.

> Are they contagious as soon as their infected?

I have been told that some contact ones are, but do NOT know for certain.

> Or are they contagious after symptoms manifest?


Again, this depends on what it is. IF it were me, I would say VITAS is a
"worse case possible" situation.

-K
Message no. 5
From: Fixer <fixer@*******.TLH.FL.US>
Subject: Re: VITAS related question
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 20:32:28 -0400
On Fri, 25 Sep 1998, David Buehrer wrote:

->At what phase of a disease is a person contagious?

Depends on the disease. IRL, you're contagious if you have the
flu at nearly any time. Also IRL, you're infectious with AIDS once it
shows up in your blood (it can remain dormant).

->Are they contagious as soon as their infected?
->Or are they contagious after symptoms manifest?

See above.

Fixer --------------} The easy I do before breakfast,
the difficult I do all day long,
the impossible only during the week,
and miracles performed on an as-needed basis....

Now tell me, what was your problem?

Further Reading

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