Ebola hysteria continues to spiral out of control. A nurse, who may have handled lab specimens from an Ebola patient at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, is now being quarantined in her stateroom on the cruise ship, Carnival Magic.  The ship, in turn, has been refused entry into Belize. The government of Belize also denied a request to evacuate the nurse through the airport in Belize City.  The shares of both Carnival and Royal Caribbean dropped 5% on the news.

The nurse and her traveling companion are reported to be in good health and not showing any symptom of the disease. Ebola is not considered to be contagious until an outbreak of symptoms, which generally takes between 2 and 21 days following exposure. Thus far, the quarantined nurse’s possible exposure was 19 days ago. The nurse had no direct contact with the patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, who subsequently died.  Nevertheless, media sources in Belize are describing the nurse as showing signs of Ebola, a claim contradicted by the ship’s medical personnel.

Carnival Magic entered service in the spring of 2011. The Magic sails out of Galveston, offering 7- day Caribbean itineraries. The 130,0000 registered tonne ship can carry 4,631 passengers with a crew of 1,367.

Thomas Eric Duncan arrived at Texas Presbyterian Hospital on September 25, but was sent home. Several days later he was admitted with a fully developed case of Ebola. Nurses at the hospital are now saying that the hospital lacked proper safety gear and protocols for treating Ebola cases.  Two nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Vincent, who did have direct contact with Duncan, have developed Ebola symptoms, and are now being treated at other hospitals.  One of those nurses was allowed to travel by commercial airliner and now we have learned that another nurse is on a 4,600 passenger cruise ship.  The case of Thomas Eric Duncan appears to be a textbook example of how not to treat an Ebola patient.