A second Texas health care worker who provided care for Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan has contracted the virus, according to preliminary test results released early Wednesday. The worker reported a fever Tuesday and was immediately isolated at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, state health officials said in a statement. Confirmatory testing will be carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored," the Texas Department of State Health Services said. "The type of monitoring depends on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus." It is the third case diagnosed in the U.S.
The worker was among those who took care of Duncan, who died a week ago after he was diagnosed with Ebola earlier this month. The first Texas Health Presbyterian nurse to become infected, Nina Pham, said in a statement Tuesday that she was "doing well" and grateful for her care.
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The identity of the second Dallas nurse to be infected has been revealed. Amber Joy Vinson, 29, will be transferred later today to the university in Atlanta, where two American healthcare workers who contracted the disease in West Africa were treated successfully earlier this year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requested that Vinson be transferred to Emory, where three patients have already been treated, the hospital said in a statement.
Vinson will be treated in the same isolation unit as the other three patients. The first two were discharged in late August and a third patient is still being treated.
The latest healthcare worker to contract the virus at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital had direct contact with three people after becoming symptomatic before she was isolated, said Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those people are being closely monitored.
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