Second TX Healthcare Worker Diagnosed with Ebola
The second Texas healthcare provider to test positive for Ebola was travelling on a jetliner from Cleveland the day before she began showing symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday.
The nurse, identified as Amber Vinson, was among those who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan after he was diagnosed with the disease.
She reported a fever Tuesday and was immediately isolated at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
The CDC is now trying to contact the 132 passengers who flew with Vinson on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143, ABC News reports.
The other Ebola patient in Texas, 26-year-old nurse Nina Pham, is said to be improving.
"I'm doing well and want to thank everyone for their kind wishes and prayers," she said in a statement released by Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. "I am blessed by the support of family and friends and am blessed to be cared for by the best team of doctors and nurses in the world."
On Tuesday night, friends and former classmates of Pham gathered on the campus of Texas Christian University for a prayer vigil.
Meanwhile, the nation's largest nurses union is criticizing the Dallas hospital, claiming there were no protocols in place to protect staff at the facility.
The CDC admits it made mistakes and could have responded sooner.
The agency is now sending a rapid response team to any hospital that diagnoses an Ebola patient.
"I wish we had put a team like this on the ground before the first patient was diagnosed. That might have prevented this infection," CDC Director Thomas Frieden said.
Meanwhile, other hospital staff who may have had contact with Duncan are still being closely monitored.
