Hospital Workers Treated Ebola Patient for Two Days Without Protection
The Dallas Morning News is reporting that health care workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola on U.S. soil, for two full days without proper protective gear, potentially exposing dozens of workers to the deadly virus.
Duncan was suspected of having Ebola when he was admitted to a hospital isolation unit Sept. 28, and he developed projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea later that day, according to medical records his family turned over to The Associated Press.
But workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas did not abandon their gowns and scrubs for hazmat suits until tests came back positive for Ebola about 2 p.m. on Sept. 30, according to details of the records released by AP.
The misstep – one in a series of potentially deadly mishandling of Duncan — raises the likelihood that other health care workers could have been infected
Wednesday morning, Texas health officials confirmed that a second healthcare worker from the hospital contracted the virus while treating Duncan. That worker, identified as Amber Vinson, took a flight to Dallas from Cleveland on Monday, just one day before showing Ebola symptoms and two days before her official diagnosis.
[Image via AP]
