A second Texas nurse who has contracted Ebola told a US health official she had a slight fever and was allowed to board a plane from Ohio to Texas, a federal source said on Wednesday, intensifying concerns about the US’ response to the deadly virus.
The nurse, Amber Vinson, 29, flew from Cleveland to Dallas on Monday, the day before she was diagnosed with Ebola, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
Vinson told the health body her temperature was 37.5oC. Since that was below the CDC’s temperature threshold of 38oC “she was not told not to fly,” the source said. The news was first reported by CNN.
Chances that other passengers were infected were very low because Vinson did not vomit on the flight and was not bleeding, but she should not have been aboard, CDC Director Thomas Frieden told reporters.
The US Congress was to hold a hearing yesterday on the US’ response to Ebola, with Frieden and other officials scheduled to testify.
Vinson was isolated immediately after reporting a fever on Tuesday, Texas Department of State Health Services officials said. She had treated Liberian patient Thomas Eric Duncan, who died of Ebola on Oct. 8 and was the first patient diagnosed with the virus in the US.
Vinson was transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta by air ambulance and is to be treated in a special isolation unit.
Three other people have been treated there and two have been discharged, the hospital said in a statement.
Television images showed Vinson walking from an ambulance to an Emory Hospital door with an escort, both of them in protective clothing.
Vinson, a worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, had taken a Frontier Airlines flight to Cleveland from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Friday.
She returned to Dallas on Monday aboard Frontier Flight 1143.
The CDC said it was asking the more than 130 passengers who were also on the flight to call a hotline.
Frontier Airlines CEO David Siegel said in a letter to employees that the health body notified the airline on Wednesday morning that Vinson had tested positive for Ebola, then later said she may have been symptomatic “while on board the flight.”
Frontier took the plane out of service on Wednesday morning for cleaning, and put two pilots and four flight attendants on a paid 21-day leave of absence as a precaution, the letter said, even though CDC guidance stated the crews were safe to fly.
Between the initial flight on Friday and Wednesday, the plane made at least five more flights, according to the letter.
In Washington, US President Barack Obama said the likelihood of a widespread Ebola outbreak was “very, very low.” However, he pledged a more aggressive response to US Ebola cases.
Obama met with officials to discuss the government’s response after canceling trips to various US states on Wednesday and yesterday to focus on the Ebola crisis.
US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said Obama should consider a temporary ban on travel to the US from countries suffering from an Ebola outbreak.
At least 4,493 people, mainly in West Africa, have died in the worst Ebola outbreak since the disease was identified in 1976.
The virus can cause fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea, and spreads through contact with bodily fluids.
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