A second health worker in the US state of Texas has tested positive for Ebola, health officials say. A 26-year-old female nurse is already receiving treatment after becoming infected by a Liberian man who died from the deadly virus last week.
Meanwhile, the UN’s Ebola mission chief says the world is falling behind in the race to contain the virus. The World Health Organisation says 4,447 people have died from the outbreak, mainly in West Africa.
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have been hardest hit by the outbreak, which began in December 2013 but was confirmed in March.
Anthony Banbury told a special session of the UN Security Council on Tuesday that if Ebola was not stopped now, the world would “face an entirely unprecedented situation for which we do not have a plan”.President Barack Obama is due to hold a video conference with British, French, German and Italian leaders to discuss the Ebola crisis later on Wednesday.
Nina Pham was exposed to Ebola at a Dallas hospital when she treated Liberian Thomas Duncan, the first person diagnosed with the virus on US soil.Doctors at the Health Presbyterian hospital said she was in good condition on Tuesday.
The identity of the second health worker has not yet been revealed, however, the person also cared for Duncan while he was in hospital.
The health worker was immediately isolated after reporting a fever on Tuesday, the Texas State Department for Health said in a statement.” Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored,” the department said.
US officials previously said they were monitoring 48 contacts of the Liberian national and the healthcare workers who treated him.
The US Centers for Disease Control expressed concern over the latest development in a statement, but added that it was “not unexpected that there would be additional exposures”.
It has announced new measures to improve hospital preparedness for Ebola treatment, including an immediate response team that will travel to the site of any future Ebola diagnoses to hit the ground “within hours”.
Nurses at the Dallas hospital say they worked for days without adequate protective clothing and received little guidance on how to prevent the spread of the virus. CNN
