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Ebola: second Texas healthcare worker diagnosed with virus Ebola: second Texas healthcare worker diagnosed with virus
(about 1 hour later)
A second Texas healthcare worker who treated the first patient in the US to be diagnosed with Ebola has tested positive for the virus, the department of state health services has said.A second Texas healthcare worker who treated the first patient in the US to be diagnosed with Ebola has tested positive for the virus, the department of state health services has said.
The worker at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital, who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, was immediately isolated after reporting a fever on Tuesday. At least 4,447 people have died in west Africa in the worst ever outbreak of the virus, which can cause fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhoea, and spreads through contact with body fluids, but cases in the US and Europe have been limited so far.
The worker at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas, who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, was immediately isolated after reporting a fever on Tuesday.
“Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored,” the department said.“Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored,” the department said.
The news comes days after another nurse, 26-year-old Nina Pham, became the first person infected with Ebola in the US while caring for Duncan during much of his 11 days in the hospital. Duncan died on 8 October. Another nurse, 26-year-old Nina Pham, was the first person to have been infected with Ebola in the US, and was diagnosed this weekend. She had cared for Duncan during much of his 11 days in hospital. He died in an isolation ward on 8 October.
The hospital said on Tuesday that Pham was “in good condition”.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was performing confirmation testing of Texas’s preliminary examinations on the new patient.The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was performing confirmation testing of Texas’s preliminary examinations on the new patient.
“An additional healthcare worker testing positive for Ebola is a serious concern, and the CDC has already taken active steps to minimise the risk to health care workers and the patient,” it said.“An additional healthcare worker testing positive for Ebola is a serious concern, and the CDC has already taken active steps to minimise the risk to health care workers and the patient,” it said.
The director of CDC, Dr Thomas Frieden, said on Tuesday the agency was establishing a rapid-response team to help hospitals “hands on, within hours” whenever there was a confirmed case of Ebola.
Frieden has come under pressure over the response to Ebola, but White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Obama was confident of Frieden’s ability to lead the public health effort.
Obama was due to hold a video conference on Wednesday with British, French, German and Italian leaders to discuss Ebola and other international issues, the White House said.
Prospects for a quick end to the contagion fell as the World Health Organisation predicted that the three worst-hit countries in west Africa – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – could produce as many as 10,000 new cases a week by early December.