Ebola is now becoming a real problem for the United States as a second nurse from Texas who recently cared for a patient with the disease has been confirmed to have contracted the deadly virus.
This could prove to be an enormous problem for the States if the Ebola outbreak continues to spread. To make matters worse, there have been reports claiming the nurse had traveled by plane after coming in contact with the Ebola patient.
Several folks are very concerned that she should not have traveled by any form of public transportation because she had been exposed to an infected patient. She flew back to Texas on Oct. 13 showing a slightly elevated fever.
"The second health care worker should not have been allowed to travel by virtue of being in an exposed group," the CDC added. "Although she had no symptoms or fever [that met the threshold] of 100.4, she did report that she took her temperature and found it to be 99.5."
The woman in question here is Amber Vinson, a 29-year-old nurse who is employed at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. We understand that the nurse turned up at the hospital on Tuesday, Oct. 14, showing symptoms of the disease. She is expected to be quickly transported to Emory University Hospital as soon as possible, according to the CDC.
"The patient traveled to Ohio before it was known that the first health care worker was ill," Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said during a debriefing Wednesday. "At that point, that patient, as well as the rest of the health care team, were undergoing self-monitoring."
The plan right now is to check in with other passengers from the plane she traveled on, though it is unlikely that anyone would have contracted the disease. The CDC is saying that due to Vinson not showing any signs of having the disease at the time, the chance of someone on the plane getting infected is extremely small, but that doesn't mean they should not be examined.
Vinson managed to get the disease after coming in direct contact with dead Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan. She is only the second nurse in the United States to have gotten the disease, although there is a possibility that more could follow in the coming days or weeks. There also is a chance that similar cases of infection could show in people who had contact with Duncan, the initial patient, before he was hospitalized, as they continue to be monitored for 21 days after any possible contact.
Right now, the biggest concern is whether or not the virus has escaped into the public domain, because if this is the case, the American health system will face its toughest threat yet.
