#SalvemosaExcalibur

It's tough to get a good grip on what the deal is with Ebola these days, because everyone in the news racket and their pet fleas appear hell-bent on sensationalizing this story like nothing else before—see, for example, the Reuters story titled Male Ebola Survivors Told: Use A Condom which reports that apparently, the virus persists in semen for at least two months, and perhaps for more than 90 days.

One Ebola-related report that appears to be rock solid is the decision by authorities in Madrid, Spain, to put down a dog named Excalibur that belongs to a nurse's aide who apparently contracted Ebola while treating a patient, and who is, together with her husband, currently in isolation. The reasoning behind the decision seems fairly obvious, but all the same, the decision also seems a little knee-jerk, to me.

According to a story on NBC News:

While at least one major study suggests dogs can be infected with Ebola without having symptoms, whether or how likely they are to spread the virus to humans is less clear.

So not only is it not clear that dogs can infect humans with the disease, it's not actually clear that Excalibur has actually been infected with Ebola. <sarcasm>So, by all means, the obvious solution is to kill the dog!</sarcasm>

If it was my decision to make, I'd make sure Excalibur was taken into custody and studied—humanely—in depth. If the dog is infected, continue to study it! The knowledge gained might better illuminate, if ever so slightly, our knowledge of the disease and its mechanisms.