A second Texas health care worker who tended to Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan has been diagnosed with the deadly virus, health officials announced early Wednesday, sparking speculations that a number of health care workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital face a "very real possibility" of having been infected as well.
On Tuesday, the health care worker reported a fever and was given a preliminary test at the state public health laboratory in Austin. Around midnight, her results were confirmed to be positive and within 90 minutes, she was placed in isolation at the Dallas hospital. The patient's name, age, and position have not been released, Yahoo News reported.
"This is a heroic person, a person who has dedicated her life to helping others and is a servant leader," Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said during a press conference, adding that results for a second testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected on Wednesday.
Following the diagnosis, 75 other hospital workers are now being tracked for any possible Ebola symptoms. "The fight against Ebola in Dallas is a two-front fight now," Jenkins said. "We are preparing contingencies for more and that is a very real possibility."
Although it wasn't immediately known how the new patient contracted the disease, the hospital's chief clinical officer said "it's clear there was an exposure somewhere, sometime in their treatment of Mr. Duncan."
"We're a hospital that may have done some things different with the benefit of what we know today," said Dr. Daniel Varga said during a news conference. "Make no mistake, no one wants to get this right more than our hospital." The second Ebola infection at the hospital is "an unprecedented crisis," he said.
Early Wednesday morning, a hazardous-materials team began to decontaminate the health worker's apartment, where she is reported to have been living alone. Neighbors were also alerted of the new developments and advised to look out for any possible symptoms, according to Reuters.
"The only way that we are going to beat this is person by person, moment by moment, detail by detail," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said. "While Dallas is anxious about this ... We are not fearful."
Meanwhile, the patient was also interviewed for any leads that might point towards contacts or potential exposures in the community, the CDC said in a statement.
"While this is troubling news for the patient, the patient's family and colleagues and the greater Dallas community, the CDC and the Texas Department of State Health Services remain confident that wider spread in the community can be prevented with proper public health measures including ongoing contact tracing, health monitoring among those known to have been in contact with the index patient and immediate isolations if symptoms develop," the CDC said in a statement.
The new diagnosis comes days after a 26-year-old nurse contracted the Ebola virus due to an unknown "breach of protocol in treating 42-year-old Duncan, who was diagnosed with Ebola Sept. 30 and died Oct. 8, ABC News reported.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 4,000 people have been killed by Ebola, with Liberia reporting more than 2,300 deaths, including 95 health workers, this year, Voice of America reported.
