How long is the quarantine for a Swine Flu patient?

Answer 1

Quarantine is a word that means separation of a potentially contagious person by legal mandate, which may be necessary in some communicable disease situations, but for now with the Novel Swine Flu, it is much less likely than voluntary isolation of those who may be able to transmit the swine flu (AH1N1/09) to others.

Initially, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believed that people were not likely to be contagious after 24 hours past the time the fever stopped [when not taking anti-fever medicines]. However, new studies reported by the Department of Homeland Security, indicate that the original suggestion by the CDC to stay isolated if possible for a period of seven days from the start of symptoms or for 24 hours past the last fever [when not on fever reducers] whichever is longer, is still the better plan. This is the typical isolation period still being recommended in US acute care hospital settings.

The medical personnel in the new studies conducted took nasal swabs of people during the different stages of their pandemic flu infection to use in lab tests to determine when the virus was no longer present. There were surprising findings that the virus remained in a large percentage of patients longer than 24 hours after the fever stopped, up to 16 days. The testing used sensitive detection methods, so it is not yet confirmed that there is enough virus still present at that time in the course of the infection, to infect another person. Still, the study shows that they are not virus free as early as originally thought, or as early as in seasonal flu.

In the September 19, 2009 DHS report, it was found that:
Using a very sensitive test to detect virus in the nose or throat, he found that 80 percent had it five days after symptoms began, and 40 percent seven days after. Some still harbored virus as long as 16 days later. How soon they started on antiviral medicines such as Tamiflu made a difference in how much virus was found, but not whether virus was present at all.

When the coughing stops is probably a better sign of when a swine flu patient is no longer contagious, experts said after seeing new research that suggests the virus can still spread many days after a fever goes away.