Meanwhile in the US it has emerged that around 70 doctors and nurses were looking after Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to die from Ebola in America, raising fears it could have spread to more healthcare workers. Nurse Nina Pham, 26, was confirmed to have caught the virus while treating Duncan in Dallas, Texas, and on Tuesday there was growing concern for the remaining 70 or so members of his medical team. At least nine members of hospital staff went in and out of the room in Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital where Duncan, 42, was being isolated when he was at his sickest on the day before he died. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), said: “If this one individual was infected, and we don’t know how, within the isolation unit then it is possible that other individuals could have been infected as well. We need to consider the possibility there could be additional cases, particularly among the healthcare workers who cared for the patient when he was so ill. We’re concerned and unfortunately would not be surprised if we did see additional cases among healthcare workers.” The risk of further cases emerged as Miss Pham received a potentially life-saving blood transfusion from Dr. Kent Brantly, an American who contracted Ebola in West Africa but survived after treatment in the US. He has already given blood transfusions to two other patients, Dr Rick Sacra and British-American TV cameraman Ashoka Mukpo.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 08:09:25 +0000
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