Texas Health Care Worker Tests Positive For Ebola
DALLAS (CBS/AP) -- A Texas health care worker has tested positive for Ebola even though she wore full protective gear while caring for a hospitalized patient who later died from the virus, health officials said Sunday.
If the preliminary diagnosis is confirmed, it would be the first known case of the disease being contracted or transmitted in the U.S in the current outbreak.
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The CDC confirms the patient with the newest case of Ebola was not among the 48 individuals being monitored by the CDC twice daily because she came into contact with Duncan after he was admitted to the hospital and placed in isolation.
The patient was considered to be low-risk and was "self-monitoring." She reported a low-grade fever on Friday night and was immediately isolated and referred for further testing.
Those preliminary test results, received late Saturday night, show a lower level of the virus in her blood stream than was detected in Duncan's tests.
Confirmatory test results from the CDC should be available later Sunday.
In the meantime, no other patients are currently being transported by ambulance to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
Thomas Duncan was the first patient diagnosed with the Ebola virus in the United States, after traveling into the country from Africa. Duncan died on Wednesday after more than 10 days of treatment at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
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