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Health care worker at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas tests positive for Ebola
Dallas News
Melissa Repko and Sherry Jacobson, Staff Writers
10/12/2014
Excerpt:
A Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital health care worker in Dallas who had “extensive contact” with the first Ebola patient to die in the United States has contracted the disease
The infected person detected a fever Friday night and drove herself to the Presbyterian emergency room, where she was placed in isolation 90 minutes later. A blood sample sent to the state health lab in Austin confirmed Saturday night that she had Ebola — the first person to contract the disease in the United States.
The director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday that the infection in the health care worker, who was not on the organization’s watch list for people who had contact with Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, resulted from a “breach in protocol.”
"We have spoken with the health care worker," who cannot "identify the specific breach" that allowed the infection to spread, said CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden. The CDC has sent additional staff members to Dallas to “assist with the response,” he said.
Frieden said exposure can result from a “single inadvertent slip.” He cautioned: "Unfortunately it is possible in the coming days we will see additional cases of Ebola" in health care workers.
Texas health commissioner David Lakey said the health care worker had "extensive contact" with Duncan. The nurse, who missed two days of work before going to the emergency room, is believed to have had contact with one person while symptomatic. Ebola, which is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick person, can only be transmitted from infected people showing symptoms.
"We have been preparing for an event like this,” Lakey said.
Presbyterian chief clinical officer Daniel Varga said the exposure occurred during Duncan’s second visit to the hospital. Duncan, the first person to die of Ebola in the United States, went to the Presbyterian emergency room Sept. 26 and was sent home with antibiotics only to return to the hospital on Sept. 28. He was diagnosed with Ebola and died Oct. 8
Officials haven’t released the name of the health care worker or her job description. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said he has spoken to the health care worker's parents, who have asked for privacy.
"Let's remember that this is a real person who is going through a great ordeal. So is that person's family," Jenkins said.
The second Ebola patient lives in the 5700 block of Marquita Avenue in East Dallas, where the person’s apartment was decontaminated Sunday. While the CDC didn’t consider the person to be at “high risk” of contracting Ebola, the health care worker had been monitoring for signs of the disease, including checking for fever twice daily.
The person's car was decontaminated and the common area of an apartment complex was cleaned by a hazardous-material team Sunday. A pet also lived in the person’s apartment.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, who visited the neighborhood Sunday morning, said that her dog, which could potentially harbor the virus, is “very important” to the health care worker. Rawlings said workers are “finding a very safe and isolated place for the dog,” where the animal can be monitored.
Rawlings, however, dismissed a rumor that he was taking the dog in.
Though Rawlings publicly expressed optimism late last week that Duncan would be the last Ebola patient, he said Sunday that he “never felt that we were out of the woods.” Rawlings said he had told his team on Friday that maybe they could exhale if there were no new cases by the end of the next week.
Dallas police have cordoned off the East Dallas apartment, where a frenzy of news media and helicopters circling above have drawn neighbors outside. Police officers and a CDC representative talked to residents Sunday morning and distributing papers about Ebola symptoms.
"It just breaks my heart. ... She was just an innocent woman who took care of someone who was sick,” said neighbor Colleen Watson said. "She did her job, and probably with full empathy and kindness, and for this to happen to her is so much sadder than any other case.”
...................................
View the complete article, including photo series, at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local...-for-ebola.ece
Dallas News
Melissa Repko and Sherry Jacobson, Staff Writers
10/12/2014
Excerpt:
A Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital health care worker in Dallas who had “extensive contact” with the first Ebola patient to die in the United States has contracted the disease
The infected person detected a fever Friday night and drove herself to the Presbyterian emergency room, where she was placed in isolation 90 minutes later. A blood sample sent to the state health lab in Austin confirmed Saturday night that she had Ebola — the first person to contract the disease in the United States.
The director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday that the infection in the health care worker, who was not on the organization’s watch list for people who had contact with Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, resulted from a “breach in protocol.”
"We have spoken with the health care worker," who cannot "identify the specific breach" that allowed the infection to spread, said CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden. The CDC has sent additional staff members to Dallas to “assist with the response,” he said.
Frieden said exposure can result from a “single inadvertent slip.” He cautioned: "Unfortunately it is possible in the coming days we will see additional cases of Ebola" in health care workers.
Texas health commissioner David Lakey said the health care worker had "extensive contact" with Duncan. The nurse, who missed two days of work before going to the emergency room, is believed to have had contact with one person while symptomatic. Ebola, which is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick person, can only be transmitted from infected people showing symptoms.
"We have been preparing for an event like this,” Lakey said.
Presbyterian chief clinical officer Daniel Varga said the exposure occurred during Duncan’s second visit to the hospital. Duncan, the first person to die of Ebola in the United States, went to the Presbyterian emergency room Sept. 26 and was sent home with antibiotics only to return to the hospital on Sept. 28. He was diagnosed with Ebola and died Oct. 8
Officials haven’t released the name of the health care worker or her job description. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said he has spoken to the health care worker's parents, who have asked for privacy.
"Let's remember that this is a real person who is going through a great ordeal. So is that person's family," Jenkins said.
The second Ebola patient lives in the 5700 block of Marquita Avenue in East Dallas, where the person’s apartment was decontaminated Sunday. While the CDC didn’t consider the person to be at “high risk” of contracting Ebola, the health care worker had been monitoring for signs of the disease, including checking for fever twice daily.
The person's car was decontaminated and the common area of an apartment complex was cleaned by a hazardous-material team Sunday. A pet also lived in the person’s apartment.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, who visited the neighborhood Sunday morning, said that her dog, which could potentially harbor the virus, is “very important” to the health care worker. Rawlings said workers are “finding a very safe and isolated place for the dog,” where the animal can be monitored.
Rawlings, however, dismissed a rumor that he was taking the dog in.
Though Rawlings publicly expressed optimism late last week that Duncan would be the last Ebola patient, he said Sunday that he “never felt that we were out of the woods.” Rawlings said he had told his team on Friday that maybe they could exhale if there were no new cases by the end of the next week.
Dallas police have cordoned off the East Dallas apartment, where a frenzy of news media and helicopters circling above have drawn neighbors outside. Police officers and a CDC representative talked to residents Sunday morning and distributing papers about Ebola symptoms.
"It just breaks my heart. ... She was just an innocent woman who took care of someone who was sick,” said neighbor Colleen Watson said. "She did her job, and probably with full empathy and kindness, and for this to happen to her is so much sadder than any other case.”
...................................
View the complete article, including photo series, at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local...-for-ebola.ece