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Health Care Professionals Back Quarantined Nurse

AUGUSTA, Maine - A group of Maine health professionals is criticizing the state's protocols for health care professionals who've treated Ebola patients.

The group wrote in a letter Thursday that health officials have 40 years of experience with Ebola and should base health care decisions on established science.

They say the science backs up nurse Kaci Hickox, who's fighting the state's attempt to impose a quarantine.

And they also expressed fear that the treatment of Hickox could discourage other health care professionals from volunteering in West Africa.

Two former state epidemiologists and two former state health directors are among those who signed onto the letter. They letter says "an epidemic of fear can be as dangerous as an epidemic with a virus.''