A Texas healthcare worker who provided hospital care for an Ebola patient who later died has tested positive for the virus, health officials yesterday said in a statement. If the preliminary diagnosis is confirmed, it would be the first known case of the disease being contracted or transmitted in the US.
A statement posted on the Texas Department of State Health Service’s Web site read: “Confirmatory testing will be conducted by the [US] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.”
Officials said the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital healthcare worker reported a low-grade fever on Friday night and was isolated and referred for testing.
Preliminary test results were received late on Saturday.
Hospital and state health officials did not identify the healthcare worker or provide their job description.
“We knew a second case could be a reality and we’ve been preparing for this possibility,” Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner David Lakey said. “We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread.”
Health officials have interviewed the patient and are identifying any contacts or potential exposures. They said people who had contact with the healthcare worker after symptoms emerged would be monitored based on the nature of their interactions and the potential that they were exposed to the virus.
More than 4,000 people have died in the ongoing Ebola epidemic centered in west Africa, according to WHO figures published on Friday. Almost all of those deaths have been in the three worst-affected countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Ebola spreads through close contact with a symptomatic person’s bodily fluids, such as blood, sweat, vomit, feces, urine, saliva or semen. Those fluids must have an entry point, like a cut or scrape or someone touching their nose, mouth or eyes with contaminated hands, or being splashed. The WHO said blood, feces and vomit are the most infectious fluids, while the virus is found in saliva mostly once patients are severely ill, while the whole live virus has never been culled from sweat.
Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the US, died on Wednesday in Dallas.
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