CDC confirms second Ebola case in Texas.

Health worker wore ‘full’ protective gear.


In the first case of Ebola transmission in the United States, a Texas nurse who treated an Ebola-stricken Liberian man has tested positive for the deadly virus.
The test result was confirmed Sunday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, four days after the death of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan in Dallas.
The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital worker reported “a low-grade fever” Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement. This person “was isolated and referred for testing.” The preliminary test result was received late Saturday.


Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said that an unknown breach in protocol led to the health worker being infected and that federal officials are investigating. He said additional CDC staff are heading to Texas.

He also said more cases may be likely.
“We are deeply concerned by the news,” he said during a news conference Sunday. Frieden said the worker, whom other officials identified as a female nurse, provided care for Duncan on “multiple occasions” that included “extensive contacts with him.”

Frieden also said the CDC is considering having Ebola patients be treated at one of the four facilities in the United States that have special isolation units. Three of them — the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.; Emory University Hospital in Atlanta; and the University of Nebraska Medical Center — have treated confirmed or suspected Ebola cases. The fourth place is St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Mont.

He outlined several steps that were being taken to care for the health-care worker and prevent  infection of others. Every effort is being made to care for the patient safely and effectively, he said.

The CDC did not consider the nurse to be “high risk,” said Daniel Varga, chief clinical officer for Texas Health Resources, which operates Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. She treated Duncan, the Ebola patient, after his second visit to the ER, on Sept. 28, and was “following full CDC precautions,” including wearing a gown, gloves, a mask and a protective face shield.

“We’re very concerned,” Varga said, though he added that the hospital is “confident that the precautions that we have in place are protecting our health-care workers.”