Officials Confirm Second Health Care Worker Positive For Ebola

Texas health officials have confirmed that a second healthcare worker at the Dallas hospital where Ebola patient Thomas Duncan was treated has tested positive.

In a statement released early Wednesday, they said the worker had tested positive, but did not specify what position the worker held at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. However, officials did say that the person was among those who provided care for Duncan, who died from the virus Oct. 8.

The worker had reported a fever Tuesday and had been placed in isolation, while they ran preliminary tests. The positive results came back around midnight on Wednesday. A separate test will be done at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to confirm the results.

The statement also said the unidentified health care worker was interviewed to quickly identify any other individuals who were potentially exposed, and that they will be monitored.

On Sunday, officials confirmed that 26-year-old nurse Nina Pham had tested positive for the virus and, further, that over 70 people who may have had contact with Duncan at the hospital were being monitored. Officials have said they don’t know how Pham became infected, but CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden had come under fire for saying there was a “breach in protocol.” Now, the second case suggests an infection without the individual removing personal protective garb.

In fact, the second positive test comes only one day after the largest U.S. nurses’ union claimed that Duncan’ caregivers worked for days without proper protective gear and faced constantly changing protocols.

A statement from National Nurses United also says Thomas Eric Duncan was left in an open area of an emergency room for hours. A spokesman for the group says nurses were forced to use medical tape to secure openings in their garments, and that the patient had explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting.

In a conference call with reporters executive director RoseAnn DeMoro says the allegations are based on revelations from “a few” nurses and that the claims were vetted.

The charges also claimed that Duncan’s infected lab samples were allowed to travel through the hospital’s pneumatic tubes, which raises the possibility that they could have contaminated the hospitals specimen delivery system. The nurses also alleged that hazardous waste was allowed to pile up to the ceiling.