Breach in Protocol Led to New Ebola Diagnosis, Says CDC Director

iStock/Thinkstock(DALLAS) — A breach in protocol resulted in a confirmed Ebola diagnosis for a female health care worker who treated Thomas Earl Duncan, the first Ebola patient in the United States, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday.

The female health care worker has been interviewed by investigators and could not identify when the breach may have happened, said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden.

The health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has been isolated since reporting a low-grade fever Friday, said Frieden.

This is the first case of Ebola contracted in the U.S.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the health care worker’s family asked that her identity not be released, calling the worker a “heroic person.”

The health care worker, who’s in stable condition, had been taking her temperature twice daily under the CDC’s self-monitoring regimen since treating Duncan, said Dr. Daniel Varga with Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.

The apartment complex where she lives was decontaminated Sunday, said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings. Officials also went door-to-door in the neighborhood and distributed leaflets about the virus.

A pet found inside her apartment is also being monitored, Rawlings said.

Anyone who had contact with the health care worker after she began showing symptoms, including other hospital staff members involved in Duncan’s care, will be monitored.

“We are confident that the precautions we have put in place will protect our health care workers,” Varga said.

ABC News chief health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser called the health care worker’s case concerning, adding that public health officials will need to investigate how the exposure occurred.

While the CDC has said that any hospital is capable of safely treating Ebola, Besser said health care workers need training and practice using protective equipment to do so successfully.

“I would never have gone into an Ebola ward in Africa without being dressed and decontaminated by experts,” he said. “Health care workers here should expect no less.”

The CDC has not said if the second Ebola patient will be transferred to a specialized isolation facility, like the one at Emory University in Atlanta where two American missionaries who contracted Ebola in Liberia were treated.

“I would hope they are considering that,” Besser said.

Varga didn’t say whether the health care worker was among 48 people who may have had contact with Duncan after he began showing symptoms. Varga said she was considered “low-risk” to contract the virus.

Duncan died Wednesday at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where he had been isolated during his treatment. His medical records show he had a 103-degree fever when he initially went to the hospital, but was sent home with antibiotics and Tylenol.

He returned to the hospital two days later when his symptoms worsened.

Duncan, who hails from Liberia, had arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20 to visit family members in Dallas.

While the health care worker undergoes treatment at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, the hospital will divert its emergency care services to surrounding hospitals, Varga said.

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