Second positive Ebola case at Texas hospital, safety protocol breached

A healthcare worker at Texas Presbyterian Hospital who provided care for the Liberian man before he died of the Ebola virus last week has tested positive for Ebola according to preliminary tests by the Texas Department of State Health Services’ laboratory. The healthcare worker was isolated after the initial report of a fever and remains so now.

Although the health care employee, a woman, was wearing protective gear, the director of the federal Centers for Disease Control said Sunday as that the latest report indicated a clear breach of safety protocol at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital where Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, died last Wednesday.

The health care worker reported a low-grade fever Friday night, went to the hospital at some point after that and was immediately admitted and put in isolation, officials said, as quoted by The New York Times. Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a news conference on Sunday that his agency was considering the idea that Ebola patients should be transferred to hospitals with special containment units and experience in treating the disease.

Dr. Frieden said that the latest report showed the safety protocol at the hospital had been breached. He said that questioning of the worker had not identified a breach and that the cause of her infection was not known. “Unfortunately it is possible in the coming days that we will see additional cases of Ebola,” he said. Everyone who treated Mr. Duncan was now considered to be potentially exposed.”