A Dallas health care worker who provided care for the Ebola patient who died there last week tested positive for the deadly virus -- and sent health officials scrambling Sunday to find the "breach in protocol" that resulted in her infection.
The woman was among caregivers for Thomas Eric Duncan, who died Wednesday at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. If the state's test is confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it would be the first known Ebola case transmitted in the U.S.
CDC chief Thomas Frieden said Sunday his agency will investigate how a worker in full protective gear contracted the virus.
"At some point there was a breach in protocol," Frieden said. "That breach in protocol resulted in this infection."
The White House said President Obama had discussed the news with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, directing that the CDC "investigation into the apparent breach in infection control protocols at the Dallas hospital move as expeditiously as possible."
The Ebola epidemic has killed more than 4,000 people in West Africa, the vast majority of them in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. In the U.S., tougher screening for Ebola began Saturday at New York's Kennedy Airport, where federal Homeland Security officials began screening travelers from those nations, taking their temperature and observing them for other Ebola symptoms.
The program will be added at four more U.S. airports in coming days. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said more action might be needed.
"There's a lot of talk about banning flights," McCaul said on CBS' Face the Nation. "I think we need to ... look at the idea of potentially temporarily suspending the 13,000 visas that would be coming out of this region."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaking on CNN's State of the Union, said the U.S. needs "some kind of czar" to take charge of the Ebola response." "Americans have to be reassured," McCain said.
The Dallas care-giver reported having a fever Friday night and was hospitalized, isolated and referred for testing within 90 minutes, Clay Jenkins, Dallas County's chief executive and its Homeland Security director, said at a news conference.
"While this is obviously bad news, it is not news that should bring about panic," Jenkins said. "We knew it was a possibility that a second person would contract the virus. We had a contingency plan in place."
The woman, who requested anonymity, was listed in stable condition, Jenkins said.
Frieden cited four steps being taken by the CDC: ensuring the woman is cared for safely; identifying her contacts; treating all health care workers who cared for Duncan as having potentially been exposed; and reviewing procedures used to protect health care workers who treat Ebola patients.
Frieden called the positive test "very concerning" but stressed that the protocols for the care of Ebola patients are safe if done properly. He said that removing the protective gear incorrectly, for example, raises risk.
"This tells us there is a need to enhance training and to make sure protocols are followed," he said. He said the CDC will study ways to reduce the number of health care workers involved in treatment, to reduce medical procedures — noting that kidney dialysis, for example, could increase risk — and to provide on-site monitoring to ensure that protocols are followed.
The news hit the region's health care community hard, said Steve Love, president and chief executive of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council. The area's 85 hospitals have been training constantly for an Ebola case and holding conference calls to discuss issues, such as what to do if a child with Ebola shows up at an emergency room, he said.
"We were hoping and praying there would not be any additional Ebola cases," Love said. "But it is not surprising that this happened."
Dan Varga, chief clinical officer for the hospital group that includes Texas Health Presbyterian, confirmed that the woman had worn full protective gear when working with Duncan. He said the woman was not one of the 48 health care workers who were being most closely watched, and that the number of workers being monitored could be expanded.
Duncan initially sought treatment Sept. 25 and was sent home with antibiotics, despite informing health workers he had recently been to West Africa. He returned three days later in an ambulance and was diagnosed with the deadly infection.
Duncan was the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States.
Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick person or exposure to contaminated objects such as needles. People are not contagious before symptoms such as fever develop. The health care worker who tested positive, along with the others who dealt with Duncan, was self-monitoring — watching for symptoms consistent with early signs of Ebola, Varga said. The monitoring guidelines include taking a temperature twice a day.
"That health care worker is a heroic person," Jenkins said. "Let's remember as we do our work that this is a real person who is going through a great ordeal, and so is that person's family."
Last week, the hospital defended the quality of care it provided Duncan, saying treatment was not affected by the man's nationality or lack of health insurance.
"Our care team provided Mr. Duncan with the same high level of attention and care that would be given any patient, regardless of nationality or ability to pay for care,'' the hospital said in a statement from its director of public relations, Wendell Watson.
Contributing: Rick Jervis
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