Second Texas healthcare worker tests positive for Ebola

Los Angeles Times | October 15, 2014 | 2:43 AM

A second healthcare worker who provided care for the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S. has tested positive for the disease, Texas health officials announced early Wednesday. 

The healthcare worker, whose name was not immediately released, reported a fever on Tuesday and was immediately placed in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, the same hospital where Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan died of Ebola, according to a Texas Department of State Health Services statement online. 

The patient was interviewed by health officials to identify any contacts or potential exposures and plans to monitor those people.

Health officials have confirmed the worker was among those who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan after he was diagnosed with Ebola. Nina Pham, a 26-year-old registered nurse, contracted Ebola while treating Duncan and is currently in isolation at the hospital, where nurses have described having flimsy protective gear and no proper training from hospital administration in handling such a patient.

The preliminary Ebola test was run late Tuesday at the state public health laboratory in Austin, and results were received at about midnight.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta will conduct confirmatory testing. 

For the latest information go to www.latimes.com.