Second US Ebola patient tests positive

Date: Oct-13-2014 A second person in the US - the first to become infected inside

the country - has tested positive for the Ebola virus, the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention confirm. She is a health care worker who was caring for a

patient with Ebola at the Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

An American health care worker caring for a patient with Ebola has been confirmed as the first person to become infected with the virus inside the country.

"The health care worker, who provided care for the Dallas index patient, was

isolated soon after symptoms started and remains so now," says a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

statement.

The "index" patient she was caring for was Thomas Eric Duncan - the first

person to die of Ebola in the US. According to

NBC News, Mr. Duncan may have contracted the virus in Liberia while taking a

dying neighbor to the hospital in a taxi.

In a press briefing, CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden says, "at some point there

was a breach in protocol and that breach in protocol resulted in this

infection."

However, he adds that although the CDC have spoken to the health care worker,

"that individual has not been able to identify a specific breach."

The health care worker had been self-monitoring for fever and symptoms while

caring for Mr. Duncan. After reporting having a low-grade fever that developed in

the night, she was referred for testing on Friday, October 10th.

Following protocol, she was isolated and CDC officials interviewed her to find

out who she had been in contact with. The federal agency says so far, one close

contact has been identified and is being monitored. Meanwhile, decisions about treatment of the second Ebola patient will be made

by the hospital and the patient.

Authorities tracing and monitoring all contacts of both patients

Understandably, the news is a great shock for the patient, her family and

colleagues and the community of Dallas, say the CDC, adding that

they and the Texas Department of State Health Services "remain confident that

wider spread in the community can be prevented with proper public health

measures."

Such measures include continuing to trace contacts and monitoring those

known to have been in contact with the index patient, isolating them

immediately if they develop symptoms.

The CDC say it is necessary to monitor all health care workers who came into

contact with Mr. Duncan as well as the new patient. Mr. Duncan was isolated in

the hospital from September 28th until the day he died on October 8th. Anyone who came

into contact with him over that period "will now be considered patient contacts

for follow-up monitoring," says the CDC statement.

Ebola spreads through direct contact with body fluids of an infected person

or the remains of someone who has died of the infection. You can also become

infected if you touch contaminated objects such as needles.

The infection has a typical incubation period of 8-10 days, but

sometimes this can be as short as 2 days or as long as 21 days. A sick person

is contagious once they develop fever. The CDC recommend monitoring for the full

21 days.

"The care of Ebola can be done safely, but it is hard to do it safely," says Dr. Frieden. "It requires meticulous and scrupulous attention to infection control, and

even a single inadvertent innocent slip can result in contamination."

The CDC have sent staff to Texas to help with the response and are recommending that the hospital keep the number

of workers who care for anyone suspected of having Ebola to an absolute minimum. They also recommend

procedures required to support such patients be "limited solely to essential

procedures."

'Need to enhance training and protocol'

Dr. Frieden says they are also re-examining procedures around personal

protective equipment, "understanding that there is a balance and putting more on

isn't always safer; it may make it harder to provide effective care."

In answering a question about how the second patient may have become infected,

he suggests there is "a need to enhance the training and protocol to make sure

the protocols are followed."

"The protocols work," he adds. "We have decades of experience caring for

patients with Ebola," and he emphasizes the need to examine every possible way that

a single lapse or breach, however inadvertent, may arise.

The CDC have also ramped up Ebola screening at

five US airports: New York's JFK, Washington-Dulles, Newark, Chicago-O'Hare,

and Atlanta. Between them, these five international airports receive nearly 95% of

West African travelers.

As of October 10th, the World Health Organization (WHO) report there are a total of

8,399 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola virus disease
in seven affected countries and 4,033 deaths since the start of the epidemic in West Africa. The seven countries are Guinea,

Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Spain and the
US. These countries fall into two categories:

Those with widespread and intense transmission - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra

Leone
Those with an initial case or cases, or with localized transmission -

Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the US.

There is also a separate, unrelated outbreak of

Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD

Not to be reproduced without permission.

Courtesy: Medical News Today Note: Any medical information available in this news section is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional.