Ebola: Connecticut Quarantines 9 People for Possible Exposure

October 23, 2014 5:49 AM EDT

Nine people in Connecticut who could have been exposed to Ebola have been ordered to stay home for 21 days, the state’s Public Health Department said on Wednesday.

The people being watched by state health authorities are not showing symptoms of illness, but are being monitored as a precautionary measure, the Connecticut Mirror reports.

The quarantined people include three Yale University students, and all the others are from one family, the New York Times says. The people also include recent visitors to West Africa.

The home quarantines are the first use of the state’s toughened measures to keep Ebola at bay, after Governor Dannel Malloy declared a public-health emergency in the state and reserved the right to impose 21-day quarantines with twice daily temperature checks on at-risk individuals.

U.S. political and health officials are seeking to contain Ebola through state-ordered quarantines, after two Dallas nurses who treated an Ebola patient contracted the disease and illustrated its potential to leapfrog through the U.S., if not controlled. A quarantine in Texas for dozens of people possibly exposed to Ebola ended this week with all declared virus-free.

Federal health officials also said Wednesday that travelers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, who arrive in the U.S. through six states, will, as of next week, be ordered to communicate daily with health authorities for 21 days about their condition.

[The Connecticut Mirror]

See The Tobacco Leaves That Could Cure Ebola

An worker inspects the Nicotiana benthamiana plants at Medicago greenhouse in Quebec City — Tobacco plants are grown for six weeks in the Medicago greenhouse in Quebec City so their leaves are large enough to serve as a factory for making antibodies. The plants are not modified or genetically altered in any way during this time.Mathieu Belanger—Reuters

Icon Genetics Provides Technology For Possible Ebola Treatment — Researchers at Icon Genetics in Germany prepare the DNA coding for antibodies that can neutralize Ebola. These genes are inserted into a soil bacterium that easily infects the tobacco plant cells. Once in the cells, the gene is treated like any other plant gene and the plant starts churning out the antibodies.Sean Gallup—Getty Images

Nicotiana benthamiana plants are dipped in a solution during the infiltration process at Medicago greenhouse in Quebec City — To infect the leaves with the antibody-containing bacteria, the plants are submerged in a water solution of the loaded bacteria. Plant cells have plenty of empty spaces filled with air, so a vacuum removes the air and the water, along with the bacteria and antibody genes, flow in.Mathieu Belanger—Reuters

An worker shows the difference between the leaf of the Nicotiana benthamiana plant before (top) and after (botom) the infiltration process at Medicago greenhouse in Quebec City — The leaf at the bottom has not been treated. The leaf on top is now an antibody-making factory. The plant's normal machinery starts making the antibody as if it is a plant protein.Mathieu Belanger—Reuters

Connecticut Quarantines 9 People for Possible Ebola Exposure

See The Tobacco Leaves That Could Cure Ebola

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