Less than a week after a Liberian man,
Thomas Eric Duncan, died from Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, in Dallas, Texas in the
United States of America, USA, a nurse in the country has also been
diagnosed of the deadly disease.
According to a report published by the Wall Street Journal, the
affected nurse was one of the health workers who cared for the late Duncan,
heightening concerns about the nation’s preparedness and protocols for
containing the spread of Ebola.
The nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas was
isolated Friday night after reporting a low-grade fever, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention said.
It was however confirmed on Sunday that the nurse had Ebola
after she was tested on Saturday’s night.
Meanwhile, the
diagnosis was disconcerting because the woman was wearing protective gear while
caring for Duncan, the Liberian patient who died Wednesday after 10 days in the
hospital.
CDC Director Tom Frieden called the
infection a result of a “breach in protocol” at the hospital and said more
cases may emerge.
Unfortunately, it is possible in the coming days that we
will see additional cases of Ebola,” Dr. Frieden said in a news conference.
“This is because the health-care workers who cared for this individual may have
had a breach of the same nature.”
As
a result of the latest development, it was gathered that President Barack Obama
has ordered an inquiry into what went wrong at the hospital. Congressional
Republicans said the administration must do more to reassure Americans they are
safe.
Commenting
on the way forward, Dr. Frieden said the search for people possibly exposed to
Ebola will now expand to include contacts of the health-care workers who had
contact with Duncan between Sept. 28 and Oct. 8, when he died.
Texas
officials said only one person had close contact with the Dallas nurse since
she developed symptoms, and that person has also been isolated as a precaution.
The
second Dallas Ebola case raises questions about how prepared U.S. hospitals are
for the disease, outside of some specialized facilities.
The
Obama administration has taken steps to reduce the risk of transmission in the
U.S. since Mr. Duncan was diagnosed, including implementing new screening for
travelers arriving from West Africa, where more than 4,000 people have died of
Ebola.
The
lates infection is the first transmitted in the U.S. and the second outside of
West Africa, following that of a nurse’s aide in Spain who had cared for a
missionary repatriated from Sierra Leone.
No comments:
Post a Comment