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Dallas nurse contracts Ebola

Just days after Thomas Duncan died from Ebola, one of his nurses now has the virus. The Dallas woman, who is in stable condition, is the first person to have co...

Just days after Thomas Duncan died from Ebola, one of his nurses now has the virus.

The Dallas woman, who is in stable condition, is the first person to have contracted Ebola in the United States, leaving many people wondering how this could have happened, despite heavy precautions.

"There was a breach in protocol and that breach in protocol resulted in this infection,” said Dr. Tom Frieden with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials say the nurse, who does not want to be identified, had been caring for Duncan at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas since September 28th

Frieden says her infection could have resulted from touching contaminated protective gear.

"The care of Ebola can be done safely, but it's hard to do it safely,” he said. “It requires meticulous and scrupulous attention to infection control."

Officials in Dallas say despite the infection, health care workers are safe.

They are continuing to monitor all staff that had any relations to Duncan’s care.

"We are confident that the precautions we have in place right now are protecting our health care workers,” said Dan Varga, the Texas Health Resources Chief Clinical Officer.

News of this recent Ebola case, however, has left many people across the country very uneasy.

"We don't know exactly who's in charge,” said Arizona Senator, John McCain. “I don't think we are comforted by the fact that we were told there would never be a case of Ebola in the United States, and obviously that's not correct."

Officials with the CDC say they’re in the process of putting new safeguards in place to protect medical professionals as well as the public; that includes implementing Ebola screenings at several major U.S. airports.

New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport began the screenings Saturday.

Four others including: Washington-Dulles, Newark, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta will begin screenings Thursday.

 

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