A second health worker in the US state of Texas has tested positive for Ebola, health officials say.
A 26-year-old female nurse is already receiving treatment
after becoming infected by a Liberian man who died from the deadly virus
last week. The worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan - the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the US and who died last week - was immediately isolated after reporting a fever yesterday, the department said.
Continue reading after the cut....
“Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored,” it added.
The largest US nurses’ union has criticised practices at the hospital saying Mr Duncan was left in an open area of the hospital for hours.
National Nurses United said the nurses treating him worked for days without proper protective gear and faced constantly changing protocols.
Nurses were forced to use medical tape to secure openings in their flimsy garments, worried that their necks and heads were exposed as they cared for the patient, said Deborah Burger of the union.
She convened a conference call with reporters to relay what she said were concerns raised by nurses at the hospital.
Among the nurses’ allegations was that the Ebola patient’s lab samples were allowed to travel through the hospital’s pneumatic tubes, opening the possibility of contaminating the specimen delivery system.
The nurses also alleged that hazardous waste was allowed to pile up to the ceiling.
Mr Duncan died on October 8th and the hospital said on Sunday that one of his nurses had tested positive for Ebola. She is in hospital and said to be in good condition.
Meanwhile, the UN's Ebola mission chief says the world is falling behind in the race to contain the virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says 4,447 people have died from the outbreak, mainly in West Africa.
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