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Latest Ebola Patient Traveled on Frontier Airlines One Day Prior to Diagnosis

By Glynn Cosker
Editor, In Homeland Security

The second health care worker diagnosed with the Ebola virus took a domestic flight one day prior to reporting symptoms. The CDC is seeking contact from all 132 passengers on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 from Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth on Oct.13. Anybody on the flight should call 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4635).

The CDC is concerned about the timing of the flight with when the health care worker spiked a fever—one of the first symptoms of the Ebola virus. However, the virus can only be spread though contact with a sufferer’s bodily fluids including vomit, blood, saliva, and diarrhea.

The airline quickly released a statement:

“At approximately 1 a.m. MT on October 15, Frontier was notified by the CDC that a customer traveling on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth on October 13 has since tested positive for the Ebola virus,” states Frontier Airlines.

“Frontier responded immediately upon notification from the CDC by removing the aircraft from service and is working closely with CDC to identify and contact customers who traveled on flight 1143,” continues the official statement.

The unnamed nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital cared for Thomas Eric Duncan as he was dying from Ebola, as did Nina Pham who was diagnosed over the weekend with the Ebola virus.

The latest patient was quickly placed in an isolation ward at the hospital, however that has not prevented at least two people from coming down with Ebola. Protocols at the hospital, and those of the CDC, are currently under intense scrutiny as the fear of a major outbreak increases.

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