Ebola in the U.S.: Second Dallas health care worker diagnosed with virus

A second Texas healthcare worker who treated the first patient in the United States to be diagnosed with Ebola has tested positive for the disease, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement on Wednesday. The worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, was immediately isolated after reporting a fever on Tuesday, and officials have interviewed the patient to “quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures.” The news came less than a day after the nurses’ union raised concerns that the healthcare workers were forced to use medical tape to secure openings in their flimsy garments, worried that their necks and heads were exposed as they cared for a patient with explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting.

[Pham] isn’t sick because she is a bad nurse, didn’t follow protocol, or was inadequately trained. She is the RN (registered nurse) who made a sacrifice to care for a very sick man.

Roy Rannila, a staff member for the Texas hospital group caring for Pham wrote on his Facebook page

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention head Thomas Frieden said earlier this week that a “breach in protocol” by health workers led to 26-year-old nurse Nina Pham becoming infected with the potentially fatal virus. Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan died Oct. 8 at the Dallas hospital after becoming infected with the virus. A spokesman for the hospital did not respond to specific claims by the nurses but said the hospital has not received similar complaints.

Patient and employee safety is our greatest priority and we take compliance very seriously. We have numerous measures in place to provide a safe working environment, including mandatory annual training and a 24/7 hotline and other mechanisms that allow for anonymous reporting.

Wendell Watson, Dallas Presbyterian spokesman

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