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| Second Texas health-care worker tests positive for Ebola | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A second health-care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who cared for the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States has tested positive for the disease, Texas health officials announced Wednesday morning. | |
| “The health care worker reported a fever Tuesday and was immediately isolated at the hospital,” a statement from the Texas Department of State Health Services said. | “The health care worker reported a fever Tuesday and was immediately isolated at the hospital,” a statement from the Texas Department of State Health Services said. |
| It said the preliminary Ebola test was run late Tuesday at the state public health laboratory in Austin, and results were received at about midnight. Confirmatory testing on a separate specimen will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the statement said. | |
| The worker, who was not named, helped take care of Thomas Eric Duncan, who died at the same hospital after coming down with Ebola following a flight from Liberia. | The worker, who was not named, helped take care of Thomas Eric Duncan, who died at the same hospital after coming down with Ebola following a flight from Liberia. |
| The first health worker who cared for Duncan and came down with the disease, Nina Pham, was said to be doing better. | The first health worker who cared for Duncan and came down with the disease, Nina Pham, was said to be doing better. |
| “Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored. The type of monitoring depends on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus,” said a statement from the Texas Department of State Health Services. | “Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored. The type of monitoring depends on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus,” said a statement from the Texas Department of State Health Services. |
| At least 76 workers were potentially exposed to Duncan in the hospital before he died Oct. 8, and they are being monitored daily for any signs of fever or other symptoms. Pham, the nurse who was diagnosed Sunday, is now in good condition. She had direct contact with one person while she was symptomatic — the only time a person with Ebola is infectious — and that person has no symptoms and is being monitored. | At least 76 workers were potentially exposed to Duncan in the hospital before he died Oct. 8, and they are being monitored daily for any signs of fever or other symptoms. Pham, the nurse who was diagnosed Sunday, is now in good condition. She had direct contact with one person while she was symptomatic — the only time a person with Ebola is infectious — and that person has no symptoms and is being monitored. |
| The handling of the Ebola cases in Texas has become the nation’s first real encounter with the disease and its infectiousness–and it is already becoming a case study in how not to deal with such a dangerous virus, which is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of those infected. | |
| Indeed, Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the agency regretted its initial response to the first Ebola diagnosis in Texas, acknowledging that more could have been done to combat infection at the hospital treating Duncan. He said authorities still don’t know how exactly Pham was infected–whether it involved a flaw in her personal protection gear or in the way it was used. If the second worker’s confirmatory tests also come back positive, they will face further questions | |