Second Ebola case reported in U.S. – healthcare worker at Dallas hospital has tested positive for virus

October 2014 – DALLAS, TX – (RNN) – A second person in the U.S. has tested positive for Ebola. A Dallas healthcare worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has tested positive, CNN reported early Sunday. This comes less than a week after the first person to test positive in the U.S., Thomas Duncan, died of Ebola in that Dallas hospital. –WTVM

Nurse was wearing full protective gear: A health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has tested positive for Ebola after a preliminary test, the state’s health agency said in a statement. Confirmatory testing will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The employee helped care for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. Duncan died on Wednesday. “We knew a second case could be a reality, and we’ve been preparing for this possibility,” Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, said in a statement Sunday morning. “We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread.”

If confirmed by the CDC, the health care worker’s case would mark the second diagnosis of Ebola ever in the United States. Globally, the disease has wrought catastrophic consequences. The World Health Organization estimates more than 8,300 have contracted Ebola during the current outbreak. Of those, more than 4,000 people have died. Three countries — Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia — have been hardest hit.

The employee in question that initially tested positive helped care for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person ever diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. Duncan died Wednesday. The health care worker is in stable condition, Texas Health Resources chief clinical officer Dan Varga said. The worker was involved in Duncan’s second visit to the hospital, when he was admitted for treatment, and was wearing protective gear as prescribed by the CDC — gown, gloves, mask and shield, Varga said. A “close contact” of the worker has been “proactively” placed in isolation, Varga added. –CNN