U.S. medical experts need to "rethink" how diseases such as Ebola are handled in the country, said the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Monday in response to the first official transmission of the disease within the U.S. despite protective gear being used.
"We have to rethink the way we address Ebola infection control. Even a single infection is unacceptable," Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters, according to Reuters. "The care of Ebola is hard. We're working to make it safer and easier."
Health authorities are still investigating how nurse Nina Pham, 26, became infected while caring for Liberian Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan in the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital isolation ward, said Frieden.
While the Dallas nurse is "clinically stable" according to Frieden, as many as 70 other hospital workers may have also come into close contact with Duncan while treating him. All were wearing the same protective gear, and are now being closely monitored by the CDC for symptoms of the virus.
"We need to consider the possibility that there could be additional cases, particularly among the health care workers who cared for" Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, he said, adding: "We're concerned that there could be other infections in the coming days."
Pham received a transfusion of plasma from Kent Brantly on Monday, the Texas physician who survived the virus, reported the Associated Press.
Frieden said he will be implementing an "immediate set of steps" to ensure staff caring for Pham remain safe.
Some changes in procedures have already been put into effect, said Friedan, such as having staff monitor those putting on and taking off protective gear, and retraining staff on how to do so properly.
Other steps are being considered, including improved protective clothing, and implementing the use of a disinfectant spray.
Friedan also apologized for his initial remarks on Sunday, when he suggested that Pham was responsible for a "protocol breach" resulting in her exposure to the virus.
"I'm sorry if that was the impression given. That was certainly not my intention," he said.
