DALLAS — A 29-year-old nurse who is the second Texas hospital worker to test positive for Ebola is "ill but clinically stable" and was transferred late Wednesday to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Emory University Hospital 's Infectious Disease Unit is where the first two U.S. Ebola patients — both health missionary workers stationed in Liberia — were treated and released in August. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where the nurses work, has only three isolation units.

The announcement came only hours after the CDC confirmed that the nurse, identified by family members as Amber Vinson, had flown on a Frontier Airlines flight from Cleveland to Dallas.

CDC director Thomas Frieden said she had violated CDC guidelines against anyone using public transport while undergoing self-monitoring for exposure to Ebola. Frieden said Vinson did not report that her temperature had risen a small amount, to 99.5 degrees, before she departed for Dallas. He said her risk to other passengers was "very low."

"We will from this moment forward ensure that no other individual who is being monitored for exposure undergoes travel in any way other than controlled movement," Frieden said.

The nurse arrived in Atlanta by special aircraft Wednesday night. Footage aired by WXIA-TV showed her walking with assistance from the plane and to a waiting ambulance while wearing protective clothing.

The CDC also asked the 132 passengers on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 on Oct. 13 from Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth to call the CDC at 1-800-CDC INFO (1-800-232-4636).

Frontier Airlines said in a statement that the passenger "exhibited no symptoms or sign of illness" while on the flight and that the plane had since been thoroughly cleaned.

Also Wednesday, Kent State University said the second nurse, Vinson, was related to three university employees and that they were asking the workers to stay off campus for 21 days "out of an abundance of caution."

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the additional infection is "a serious concern."

"What happened there (in Dallas), regardless of the reason, is not acceptable. It shouldn't have happened," Anthony Fauci, director of the Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of NIH, said Wednesday on MSNBC.

Vinson was among more than 70 workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who helped care for Ebola patient Thomas Duncan, a Liberian national who died of the virus.

The CDC said Wednesday that Vinson and the first nurse to contract the disease, Nina Pham, 26, had been in the room with Duncan during his most intense period of vomiting and diarrhea, but before he had been diagnosed as having Ebola.

Ebola, which has killed more than 4,000 people in West Africa, is transmitted through bodily fluids. Duncan apparently contracted the virus while helping neighbors transport a young Ebola patient to the hospital.

New cases of Ebola in West Africa could reach 10,000 per week by December as the virus outbreak races out of control there, World Health Organization officials said this week.

At a morning news conference, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said he could not rule out more cases among 75 other hospital staffers who cared for Duncan and were being monitored by the CDC.

"We are preparing contingencies for more and that is a real possibility," Jenkins said.

Dallas authorities moved quickly to try to contain any spread of the disease from the latest case.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.(Photo: AP)
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, who rushed to the health worker's apartment early Wednesday, said a contamination team quickly treated common areas around the apartment and were preparing to enter the woman's unit.

The mayor, who went door to door at the apartment to advise other residents of the situation, said that it was the city's goal to provide as much information as possible and "to deal with facts not fear."

He also sought to allay concerns over the latest case, which he conceded had ratcheted up anxiety in the city.

"It may get worse before it gets better, but it will get better," Rawlings said.

He said local officials in Dallas asked for the latest patient to be transferred to Atlanta.

"This allows the hospital to be focused on the employees that came in contact with Mr. Duncan," Rawlings said. "The state thought that was a good idea, and the CDC made that call."

Rawlings said he was disappointed to learn that Vinson was never instructed to avoid air travel when she was directed by hospital staff to self-monitor for signs of Ebola. He said he was also upset that two nurses who cared for Mr. Duncan have tested positive for Ebola, while none of the 48 people throughout the city who interacted with him have shown any signs of the virus.

"This was a two-front battle we were fighting: one was outside on the street and the other was in the hospital," Rawlings said. "I thought the easier battle would be within the hospital itself. Obviously, we didn't succeed in that."


The first nurse to contract the disease, Nina Pham, said Tuesday that she is "doing well" and thanked the medical staff at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital for her care. Jenkins said Wednesday that her condition had been upgraded to "good."

None of the original 48 people who had contact with Duncan prior to hospitalization have shown signs of the virus, Jenkins said.

While health officials have not determined how the two nurses became infected with Ebola, a nurses' union slammed the hospital for its handling of the Duncan case.

According to a statement released late Tuesday by the largest U.S. nurses' union, Duncan was left in an open area of a Dallas emergency room for hours, and the nurses treating him worked for days without proper protective gear and faced constantly changing protocols,

Wendell Watson, a Presbyterian spokesman, did not respond to specific claims by the nurses but said the hospital has not received similar complaints.

"Patient and employee safety is our greatest priority and we take compliance very seriously," he said in a statement. "We have numerous measures in place to provide a safe working environment, including mandatory annual training and a 24/7 hotline and other mechanisms that allow for anonymous reporting."

The pool of potential contacts being monitored by CDC specialists in Dallas dropped from around 126 to 118 after some of the potential carriers of the Ebola virus were ruled out, said David Daigle, a CDC spokesman in Dallas.

Of those 118, 48 are expected to be released from the watch this weekend when they surpass their 21-day incubation period for the virus, he said. That number could dip or rise in the coming days, as more potential contacts are ruled out or investigators find others who have been in contact with the deceased original Ebola patient or the two nurses hospitalized for signs of the virus.

"We really hope it doesn't grow," he said. "But it may well."

CDC specialists are still reviewing all the steps taken by hospital staff to determine where, if any, a breach in protocol may have occurred, Daigle said.

We're just now starting to take a hard look at infection control," Daigle said.

Contributing: Gregory Korte in Washington, Kim Hjelmgaard in London, William M. Welch in Los Angeles; Associated Press.

The highly respected Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota just advised the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) that “there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles,” including exhaled breath.
CIDRAP is warning that surgical facemasks do not prevent transmission of Ebola, and healthcare professionals (HCP) must immediately be outfitted with full-hooded protective gear and powered air-purifying respirators.
CIDRAP since 2001 has been a global leader in addressing public health preparedness regarding emerging infectious diseases and bio-security responses. CIDRAP’s opinion on Ebola virus is there are “No proven pre- or post-exposure treatment modalities;” “A high case-fatality rate;” and “Unclear modes of transmission.”
In April of 2014, CIDRAP published a commentary on Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) that confirmed the disease “could be an aerosol-transmissible disease, especially in healthcare settings,” similar to the known aerosol transmission capability of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Although CIDRAP acknowledges that they were “first skeptical that Ebola virus could be an aerosol-transmissible disease,” they are “now persuaded by a review of experimental and epidemiologic data that this might be an important feature of disease transmission, particularly in healthcare settings.”
CDC’s published “Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Hospitalized Patients with Known or Suspected Ebola Virus Disease in U.S. Hospitals” states: “HCP should wear gloves, a gown, disposable shoe covers, and either a face shield that fully covers the front and sides of the face or goggles, and respiratory protection that is at least as protective as a NIOSH certified fit-tested N95 filtering facepiece respirator.”
N95 filters look like surgical masks and are defined by the U.S. Department of Labor as “disposable respirator” with a workplace protection factor (WPF) of 10. A 3M “qualified” N95 respirators rated to block 95% of airborne particles with a size greater in diameter than 5 microns is can cost as little as $.65 each. 
However, the US National Institutes of Health reported in 2005 that 50% of bio-aerosols were found to be less than 5 microns in diameter. The NIH calculated that after correcting for dead space and lung deposition, “N95 filtering facepiece respirators seem inadequate against microorganisms.”
CIDRAP warns in regards to N95 respirators, “Healthcare workers have experienced very high rates of morbidity and mortality in the past and current Ebola virus outbreaks. A facemask, or surgical mask, offers no or very minimal protection from infectious aerosol particles.” 
CIDRAP is now advising the CDC and WHO that proper “personal protective equipment (PPE) ensures that healthcare workers remain healthy throughout an outbreak.” Based on scientific research, CIDRAP recommends the minimum protection for healthcare professionals in high-risk settings is a “powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) with a hood or helmet” that will filter 99.97% of all particles down to 0.3 microns in diameter.
But the minimum Internet-advertised price for a “qualified” 3M Veraflo respirator is $427.13, compared to about $.65 for an N95 facemask. With Liberia’s per capita GDP only $454 last year and the economy in shambles, there is no way the country’s healthcare professionals can afford to acquire the appropriate protective respirators.
Based on CIDRAP's research and the fact that Ebola cases are projected to skyrocket, it seems irresponsible that the New York Times and other mainstream media outlets are downplaying the risks of Ebola transmission.
Less than two weeks ago, the NYT's “Well” column responded to a reader's question: “Can I get Ebola from public transportation?” with “Implying that Ebola is caught as easily as flu or colds would be untrue and inflammatory.” The “Well” column, again on October 13th, responded to another question: “I’m flying soon. What is the risk of contracting Ebola on a flight?” with “Top Ebola experts have said they would not expect to be infected even if they were sitting next to another passenger with Ebola – unless that passenger actually vomited or bled on them.”
As I pointed out last week at Breitbart News, the Black Death that killed a third of all people in Europe and the Middle East in the three years from 1337 to 1340 appears to have been a “hemorrhagic fever” similar to Ebola. CIDRAP’s warning that Ebola can be spread by “infectious aerosol particles,” such as breathing, means the pandemic should be expected to continue to accelerate.
Chriss Street suggests that if you are interested in Ebola, please read EXPERTS: EBOLA OUTBREAK, BLACK DEATH 'PLAGUE' SPREAD FROM AFRICA AS VIRUSES.

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Beck said there’s a real danger, and that Ebola mutates with each person who gets it.

I take it becktard is an expert on ebola?

Shit's starting to sound worse and worse, possible pandemic?

Quote from: Naja on October 15, 2014, 10:07:36 PM

Shit's starting to sound worse and worse, possible pandemic?

Just over hype. Worst I see it being is on the same par as bird flu. Media is just over hyping the whole shit, which has NEVER worked well in the past

Quote from: BerzerkCommando on October 16, 2014, 06:19:14 PM

If only we close those airports from the infected countries until it's controlled there and a vaccine is ready.

No. That would be the smart thing to do.