Safety protocol breach may have led to new Texas Ebola infection - top health official

The Star Online, 13 October 2014
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Jon Boyle)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A breach in safety protocols, possibly while removing protective gear after treating an Ebola patient, may have caused a Texas healthcare worker to contract the deadly virus, a top U.S. health official said on Sunday.

All of the Dallas healthcare workers who helped care for Ebola patient Thomas Duncan, who died last week at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, were potentially exposed to the virus, said U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Thomas Frieden on Sunday.

“Another (area) that we’ll be looking at closely in the investigation is the interventions that were done to try desperately to keep (Duncan) alive," he told CBS' "Face the Nation". "This included dialysis and intubation. These are two procedures which can result in the spread of infectious material,” Frieden said.

 

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