A Texas health care worker who was in full protective gear while providing hospital care for an Ebola patient who later died has tested positive for the virus and is in stable condition, health officials said on Sunday. If the preliminary diagnosis is confirmed, it would be the first known case of the disease being contracted or transmitted in the U.S.
Meanwhile, a top federal health official said the health care worker’s Ebola diagnosis shows there was a clear breach of safety protocol and all those who treated Thomas Eric Duncan are now considered to be potentially exposed.
Dr. Daniel Varga, of the Texas Health Resources, said during a news conference Sunday that the worker wore a gown, gloves, mask and shield while they provided care to Duncan during his second visit to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. He did not identify the worker and says the family of the worker has “requested total privacy.”
Dr. Varga says the health care worker reported a fever on Friday night as part of a self-monitoring regimen required by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
He said another person also remains in isolation, and the hospital has stopped accepting new emergency room patients.
Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., died on Wednesday in Dallas.
More than 4,000 people have died in the ongoing Ebola epidemic, according to World Health Organization figures published on Friday. Almost all of them have been in the three worst-affected West African countries, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Nurse slightly better Meanwhile, Assistant nurse Teresa Romero, who was infected with the Ebola in a Madrid hospital after having contact with two Spanish missionaries who later died from the virus, is showing signs of “slight improvement,” a government statement said.
But the statement also said that Ms. Romero’s prognosis remains serious and further complications can’t be ruled out.
