Second Dallas Hospital Worker Contracts Deadly Ebola Virus
A second Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital healthcare worker has been confirmed positive for the deadly Ebola virus. The worker provided care for the deceased patient Thomas Eric Duncan who also had the virus. According to Carrie Williams, a health department spokeswoman, the worker reported they had a fever and was immediately quarantined.
The hospital is now keeping tabs on people who had contact with the unnamed worker for any possible signs of infection. An Austin state public health laboratory did a preliminary Ebola test late Tuesday with the results coming back around midnight.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta will do another test.
This is the second-ever Ebola transmission within the borders of the United States, which comes one day after the nurses’ union criticized the hospital for its ever-constant changing of guidelines and failure to have protocols in place to deal with the fatal virus.
RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director for the National Nurses United, said Dallas should have had protocols in place, but there are no protocols throughout the United States for this sort of scenario. DeMoro said the news is frightening and alarming.
Last week, Nurse Nina Pham of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital was diagnosed with Ebola after she cared for Duncan before he succumbed to the virus.
According to Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, if the accusations are true, then it’s a startling revelation. He said the issues could be significant when dealing with other infections.
Tom Skinner, a spokesman with the CDC, said healthcare workers in Dallas and everywhere else know the Ebola situation is a particular difficult situation to contend with.
The CDC said it was committed to the safety of healthcare workers – including nurses – and will do everything in its power to give these workers what they need to safely care for and treat Ebola patients.
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