Another health care worker has tested positive for Ebola
in the U.S., the Texas Department of Health said on Wednesday, becoming
the second person to contract the deadly disease in the U.S. and the
third to be treated for it.
The worker, who was employed at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, was among those who took care of Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan after he was diagnosed with Ebola.
"Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored," the Texas Department of Health said in a statement. "The type of monitoring depends on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus."
The worker, who was employed at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, was among those who took care of Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan after he was diagnosed with Ebola.
"Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored," the Texas Department of Health said in a statement. "The type of monitoring depends on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus."
The health care worker reported a fever on Tuesday
and was immediately isolated at the hospital. The results of a
preliminary Ebola test - run at the state public health laboratory in
Austin - were received around midnight.
People with Ebola are not contagious until symptoms such as fever develop. The disease is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids or exposure to contaminated objects such as needles.
Duncan died on October 8, becoming the first person to succumb to the disease on U.S. soil. Nurse Nina Pham, 26, who provided care to Duncan, was diagnosed with Ebola on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC), said 76 hospital workers who treated Duncan or dealt with his blood were being "actively monitored" for signs of the virus.
Frieden expressed regret for not having responded to the threat of Ebola more aggressively sooner, saying that with the benefit of hindsight, CDC should have initially dispatched "a more robust hospital infection team" to Dallas.
Pham's diagnosis has led the CDC to "rethink" the way it tries to control Ebola from spreading to care-givers, Frieden said.
In its situation report from October 10, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that global deaths from Ebola had reached over 4,000, with the most "widespread and intense transmission" occurring in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Countries with "initial cases" or "localized transmission" included Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, and the U.S.
People with Ebola are not contagious until symptoms such as fever develop. The disease is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids or exposure to contaminated objects such as needles.
Duncan died on October 8, becoming the first person to succumb to the disease on U.S. soil. Nurse Nina Pham, 26, who provided care to Duncan, was diagnosed with Ebola on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC), said 76 hospital workers who treated Duncan or dealt with his blood were being "actively monitored" for signs of the virus.
Frieden expressed regret for not having responded to the threat of Ebola more aggressively sooner, saying that with the benefit of hindsight, CDC should have initially dispatched "a more robust hospital infection team" to Dallas.
Pham's diagnosis has led the CDC to "rethink" the way it tries to control Ebola from spreading to care-givers, Frieden said.
In its situation report from October 10, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that global deaths from Ebola had reached over 4,000, with the most "widespread and intense transmission" occurring in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Countries with "initial cases" or "localized transmission" included Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, and the U.S.
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