Advertisement
Second Texas healthcare worker tests positive for Ebola
A worker wearing a hazardous material suit puts up a tarp at the apartment unit where Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian citizen diagnosed with the Ebola virus, was staying in Dallas, Texas, October 3, 2014. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Jim Young
By Terry Wade
15/10/2014
DALLAS (Reuters) - A second Texas healthcare worker who treated the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States has tested positive for the disease, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement on Wednesday.
At least 4,447 people have died in West Africa in the worst ever outbreak of the virus that can cause fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea, and spreads through contact with bodily fluids, but cases in the United States and Europe have been limited so far.
In Dallas, the worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, who cared for Ebola-victim Thomas Eric Duncan, was immediately isolated after reporting a fever on Tuesday, the state health department said.
"Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored," it said in a statement.
Another nurse, 26-year-old Nina Pham, was the first person to have been infected by Ebola in the United States, 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 Oct. 8.
The hospital said on Tuesday that Pham was "in good condition". Hospital representatives were not immediately available to comment on Wednesday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement that it was performing confirmation testing of Texas' preliminary tests on the new patient.
"An additional health care worker testing positive for Ebola is a serious concern, and the CDC has already taken active steps to minimize the risk to health care workers and the patient," it said in a statement.
CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said on Tuesday that the agency was establishing a rapid-response team to help hospitals "hands on, within hours" whenever there is a confirmed case of Ebola.
Frieden has come under pressure over the response and preparedness for Ebola, but White House spokesman Josh Earnest said U.S. President Barack Obama is confident of Frieden's ability to lead the public health effort.
Obama is due to hold a video conference on Wednesday with British, French, German and Italian leaders to discuss Ebola and other international issues, the White Housesaid.
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.
Add new comment