AMU Diseases Health & Fitness Homeland Security Infectious Diseases

Questions for the CDC as Dallas Nurse contracts Ebola

By Glynn Cosker
Editor, In Homeland Security

In recent weeks, health authorities have vigorously informed the U.S. public that the only way to acquire the Ebola virus is by contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids. That is how Thomas Eric Duncan contracted the disease while caring for an Ebola-stricken pregnant woman in Liberia. So, how is it possible that one of Duncan’s female caregivers in a Dallas hospital tested positive for Ebola Sunday?

That question prompted the CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden to state that his agency was “deeply concerned” by a “breach in protocol” at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. That breach resulted in the second-ever person diagnosed with Ebola on American soil and the first to contract it while in the U.S.

Clearly, one would hope that hospital personnel wore protective clothing while caring for Duncan. According to health officials, the unnamed female nurse followed all safety precautions outlined by the CDC. Given that Duncan mingled with dozens of people in Dallas—while sick and showing symptoms of Ebola—it’s a scary thought that a person wearing a protective outfit, rubber gloves and eye mask has caught the disease.

Is it cause for a mass panic in Dallas? No. But, there is growing concern within the city. The nurse’s apartment building had all public sections decontaminated by the Dallas Fire Department Sunday.

“We knew a second case could be a reality, and we’ve been preparing for this possibility,” said Dr. David Lakey, the commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. “We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread.”

The nurse is in stable condition and in isolation. Major questions remain for the CDC and other public health officials. Is it time to quarantine everybody who cared for Duncan? Is it time to ban all incoming flights from West Africa for the foreseeable future? How many people will be monitored going forward?

Duncan, who died Oct. 8, had contact with around 80 people including the nurse who now has the disease. Duncan’s contacts remain under close watch. Are health officials going to monitor the dozens of people the nurse was in contact with? And then the people that group spent time with? Where does it end?

For now, officials are scratching their heads and reinforcing the safety precautions. As Dr. Frieden put it Sunday: “even a single lapse or breach can result in infection.”

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