Tag: deadly Ebola virus

Disease & Outbreaks, Ebola Virus

Second Nurse Diagnosed With Ebola at Dallas Hospital

The ReadyWriter

A second nurse who treated Dallas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan has been diagnosed with the deadly Ebola virus.

“An additional health care worker testing positive for Ebola is a serious concern, and the CDC has already taken active steps to minimize the risk to health care workers and the patient,” said the CDC in a statement on Wednesday.

Nurses’ unions are not surprised that another health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has contracted Ebola. A union rep listed a comedy of errors that occurred at Texas Health — beginning with Duncan being sent home from the hospital with a 103-degree fever on his initial visit on Sept. 25.

A nurses’ union rep told CNN that nurses were not adequately equipped or trained to care for an Ebola patient. She said there was no strict infection control protocol in place to treat patients with Ebola.

And most shocking: she said nurses who treated Duncan were also treating other patients — even patients who had low grade fevers which made them more susceptible to infections!

A total of 76 health care workers came into contact with Duncan, who died on Oct. 8. All are being monitored for signs of Ebola.

Disease & Outbreaks, Ebola Virus, Infectious Disease

Nurse Who Treated Dallas Ebola Patient Tests Positive for Ebola

The ReadyWriter

Ebola Patient

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has come under scrutiny for pointing the finger of blame at a nurse who contracted the deadly Ebola virus while caring for an Ebola patent in Dallas.

The nurse, who treated Thomas Eric Duncan in the isolation unit at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, is the 2nd person to be diagnosed with Ebola on U.S. soil. Duncan, who was the first person diagnosed in the U.S., died on Oct. 8.

“Unfortunately it is possible in the coming days that we will see additional cases of Ebola,” Frieden said during a press conference. “Because the health care workers who cared for [Duncan] may have had a breach of the same nature of the [nurse] who appears now to have a preliminary positive test.”

The CDC’s preemptive finger pointing at the health care worker is raising concern among doctors and nurses, who say health care workers are not properly trained to treat patients with Ebola.

Only 4 hospitals in the country have isolation units that specialize in treating and containing infectious diseases like Ebola and Marburg. Still, the White House refuses to order the mandatory transfer of Ebola patients to one of those 4 hospitals for treatment.