Ebola Found in Second Health Worker at Texas Hospital— Nurse Says African Ebola Patient Was Allowed To Sit With Other Patients for Hours (Video)

CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden announces that second nurse has ebola. (Screen
captured from NY Times video)

By Manny Fernandez and Jack Healy
A second nurse at a hospital here tested positive for Ebola on Wednesday, the third case of disease confirmed in Dallas in the span of 15 days and the first to heighten fears far beyond the city.

The nurse, Amber Joy Vinson, 29, took a flight earlier this week from Ohio to Texas, a trip that federal health officials said should not have been taken.

Nurse Describes Multiple Screw-Ups At Texas Hospital

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Ms. Vinson was part of the medical team at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital that cared for the Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan after he was admitted on Sept. 28 and put in isolation.

“Because at that point she was in a group of individuals known to have exposure to Ebola, she should not have traveled on a commercial airline,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday. “The C.D.C. guidance in this setting outlines the need for what is called ‘controlled movement.’ That can include a charter plane, that can include a car, but it does not include public transport.”

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Local and hospital officials, while attempting to reassure Dallas residents and hospital workers, said they were preparing for other health-care workers to test positive. “We are preparing contingencies for more, and that is a very real possibility,” said County Judge Clay Jenkins, Dallas County’s chief executive.

A second case of Ebola among the nearly 100 doctors, nurses and assistants who treated Mr. Duncan for 10 days was not unexpected. For days, federal health officials have warned that, in addition to Ms. Pham, other cases were likely. But the appearance of a new Ebola patient replayed a public-health drama that unfolded in this city twice before in a two-week period. The case also renewed questions about the hospital’s infection-control procedures and the C.D.C.'s oversight and initial response to the first Ebola case diagnosed in the United States.

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