The healthcare worker started feeling feverish this past Tuesday, was immediately admitted and put in isolation

Oct 15, 2014 12:40 GMT  ·  By

Earlier today, the Texas Department of State Health Services went public with the news that, just hours before, yet another nurse working at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas had tested positive for Ebola.

The nurse is the second person to have until now contracted the deadly disease in the US. The first was a healthcare worker employed at the same hospital. For the time being, this second patient's identity and gender remain a mystery.

A terrifying déjà vu

On its website, the Texas Department of State Health Services explains that this second healthcare worker to have until now been infected with the deadly virus in Dallas was part of the team that treated Thomas Eric Duncan.

This 42-year-old man is the person who brought Ebola to the US. He was exposed to the virus while in Liberia, which counts itself among the countries affected by the ongoing epidemic in West Africa.

Thomas Eric Duncan was admitted to hospital on September 28 and passed away shortly after, on October 8. At that time, his caretakers issued a statement saying that, although he “fought courageously,” the disease eventually got the best of him.

Not long after the 42-year-old's death, a nurse at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas was diagnosed with Ebola. The woman got the virus from Thomas Eric Duncan, whom she helped treat.

It was first said that this nurse's getting infected was an isolated incident. As it turns out, this was not the case. It is now clear that at least one other healthcare worker was exposed to the virus while the US' first Ebola patient was being treated.

“A second health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who provided care for the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States has tested positive for the disease,” the Texas Department of State Health Services writes in a statement.

“The health care worker reported a fever Tuesday and was immediately isolated at the hospital. The preliminary Ebola test was run late Tuesday at the state public health laboratory in Austin, and results were received at about midnight,” it adds.

Keeping the virus from spreading

Although they do not yet know how it was that these two healthcare workers contracted Ebola while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, health officials in Dallas, Texas, are now doing their best to keep the virus from spreading any further.

Thus, they are closely monitoring the people who came into contact with either of the two new US Ebola patients. Since the deadly virus spreads by coming into contact with an infected person's bodily fluids, the chief focus is on the individuals who had close contact with the victims.

“Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored,” Texas Department of State Health Services explains.

“The type of monitoring depends on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus,” the health officials in charge of containing the spread of the virus go on to detail.

It is to be expected that more information will soon be shared with the public, so keep an eye on this page for updates.