Ebola cases rise in the US as a second nurse tests positive…controversy over safety measures

A unidentified health worker has become the second to have contracted the deadly Ebola virus on US soil. 

Three days after Nina Pham, a nurse who treated a Liberian man with Ebola contracted the virus, a second worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has tested positive for the virus after preliminary tests were conducted late Tuesday.


Officials said on Wednesday said that additional tests to confirm the result were underway by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The yet to be identified hospital worker was part of the medical team that cared for the index case, Thomas Eric Duncan when he was admitted to the hospital on September 28 and put in isolation.

The CDC said in a statement: “An additional health care worker testing positive for Ebola is a serious concern, and the C.D.C. has already taken active steps to minimize the risk to health care workers and the patient”

The index case, Mr. Duncan, 42, a Liberian died last Wednesday.  While he was in isolation, the critical-care nurse, Pham, 26, became infected.

How Pham and the second nurse contracted the virus are unclear because they were in their protective gears all through the treatment and were believed to have adhered to laid down procedures and protocols.

On Tuesday evening, a nurses’ union released a biting statement told of “confusion and frequently changing policies and protocols,” of inadequate protection against contamination and spotty training.