WASHINGTON — The Texas Department of State Health Services announced Sunday morning that a health worker who cared for the Liberian man who died from Ebola in Dallas on Oct. 8, has tested positive for the virus.
The test is preliminary, and will be sent to the Centers for Disease Control for confirmation. It could be the first known case of Ebola being contracted or transmitted in the United States.
“We knew a second case could be a reality, and we’ve been preparing for this possibility,” said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. “We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread.”
The health care worker, who is an employee at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where Thomas Eric Duncan was admitted on Sept. 28, had reported a “low grade fever” on Friday, and was promptly isolated and tested. In the release, health officials said the patient – whose name and gender have not been released — cared for Duncan, but did not provide any additional details. In a news conference hours later, they said the worker had been in full protective gear when working with Duncan.
Duncan was the first patient to die of the Ebola virus in the U.S. Ebola has killed over 4,000 people in West Africa since the latest outbreak in March.
The preliminary test was analyzed at the state public health laboratory in Austin. Confirmatory testing will be conducted by the CDC in Atlanta.
Health officials have also interviewed the patient and “are identifying any contacts or potential exposures.” The health worker had been self-monitoring in the wake of his admittance to the hospital, meaning, according to officials, the care-giver was taking his or her own temperature twice daily, and had notified the hospital of the fever.
According to information released at a news conference on Sunday morning, there are 18 employees being tracked right now (some 48 are being monitored by the city). Meanwhile, the hospital is not taking any new emergency room patients, with ambulances diverted to other area hospitals.
As the story develops a critical question remains over how the worker may have contracted the virus. Later in the morning, Dr. Tom Frieden, head of CDC, told CBS’S “Face the Nation” that the case shows a clear breach of safety protocol, which may include how the gear was taken off everyday. Removing it incorrectly, officials say, can lead to contamination.
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