(Newswire.net — October 13, 2014) — Referring to deceased Ebola patient who died at hospital in Dallas, Dr. Frank Esper an infectious disease specialist at University Hospital in Cleveland said that he always expected that there may be another individual who will come down with Ebola from patient to patient transmission in the U.S. and “we always felt that it was going to likely be one of his close contacts or one of the health care workers, because that’s the way this virus works”.
According to Dr. Esper, there is no surprise that a female nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas become the 1st case of Ebola transmission in US when she tested positive to the virus. Her dignosis was confirmed by secondary testing on Sunday.
Texas Health Resources chief clinical officer Dan Varga said that the infected nurse helped care for Thomas Eric Duncan who died last week. “The nurse is in stable condition,” Varga said.
The woman had on a gown, gloves, mask and a shield during her multiple visits with Duncan, but according to hospital officials, there had been a breach in protocol and “that breach in protocol resulted in this infection,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden at news conference Sunday.
However, “the fact that we identified this individual so quickly is actually to me a sign that the system is working,” said Dr. Frank Esper.
Esper said Texas officials have been keeping a close eye on people who had contact with Duncan.
Meanwhile, the Spanish Ebola patient’s condition worsens, doctor says.
Teresa Romero Ramos became sick after she helped treat an Ebola-stricken Spanish missionary. Her case raised questions about whether hospitals in other countries are properly equipped to safely treat Ebola patients.
Ebola is actually not that easy to catch, claim experts. People are at risk if they come into direct contact with the blood, saliva, sweat, feces, semen, vomit or soiled clothing of an Ebola patient. However, the symptoms are terifiing – vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, fever and unexplained bleeding.
More than 8,300 people have contracted Ebola during this year’s outbreak and nearly half of them has died, the WHO estimates. Of 416 health care workers have contracted Ebola, and at least 233 have died.
Because Ebola’s incubation period can last up to 21 days, it is crucial to find and closely monitor all the people with whom the nurse from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has had close contact.
“This is not an easy thing,” said Elizabeth Cohen, CNN senior medical correspondent and concluded that they need “a whole new crew of people to do contact tracing”.