Second Health Care Worker Tests Positive for Ebola

News Release
Oct. 15, 2014

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 health care worker reported a fever Tuesday and was immediately isolated at the hospital.

Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored. The type of monitoring depends on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus.

The worker was among those who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan after he was diagnosed with Ebola.

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

Confirmatory testing on a separate specimen will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick person or exposure to contaminated objects such as needles. People are not contagious before symptoms such as fever develop.

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(News Media Contact: Carrie Williams, carrie.williams@dshs.state.tx.us, 512-776-7119)