2nd Texas health worker with Ebola was on flight

NEW YORK (AP) — The night before she was diagnosed with Ebola, a Texas nurse flew back to the Dallas area from Cleveland, according to health officials who are now trying to contact the other passengers.

The woman is the second nurse apparently infected with Ebola while caring for a Liberian man who died of the disease last Wednesday at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

The unidentified nurse flew to Cleveland on Friday, the same day a colleague, nurse Nina Pham, was hospitalized. Pham's diagnosis with Ebola was disclosed on Sunday.

The second nurse returned to Texas on Monday on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 from Cleveland to Dallas-Fort Worth with 132 other passengers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The airplane's crew said she had no symptoms of Ebola during her return flight on Monday. But Tuesday morning she developed a fever and on Tuesday night tested positive for Ebola.

Infected Ebola patients are not considered contagious until they have symptoms. But the CDC is asking passengers on Monday's flight to call the health agency so they can be monitored.

The flight landed in Dallas at 8:16 p.m. Monday, stayed there overnight, and underwent a thorough cleaning before returning to service the next day. The cleaning was consistent with CDC guidelines, according to a Frontier Airlines statement released by CDC officials.

The health worker's flight to Cleveland last week happened far enough in advance of her symptoms that the CDC sees no need to contact passengers on that earlier flight, said Barbara Reynolds, a CDC spokeswoman.

Health officials did not immediately release the reason for her trip or where she visited in the Cleveland area. The CDC notified the airline Wednesday morning.

The CDC is asking passengers on the Monday flight to call 1-800-CDC INFO (1-800-232-4636).

She's been ID'd now:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/15/us-health-ebola-usa-idUSKCN0I40UE20141015 wrote:(Reuters) - A second Texas nurse who has contracted Ebola flew on a commercial flight from Ohio to Dallas with a slight temperature the day before she was diagnosed, health officials said on Wednesday, raising new concerns about U.S. efforts to control the disease.

Chances that other passengers on the plane were infected were very low, but the nurse should not have been traveling on the flight, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Thomas Frieden told reporters.

The woman, Amber Vinson, 29, was isolated immediately after reporting a fever on Tuesday, Texas Department of State Health Services officials said. She had treated Liberian patient Thomas Eric Duncan, who died of Ebola and was the first patient diagnosed with the virus in the United States.

Vinson, a worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, had taken a Frontier Airlines flight from Cleveland, Ohio to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Monday, the officials said.

The latest revelation raised fresh questions about the handling of Duncan's case and its aftermath by both the hospital and the CDC.

There's some good news, too:

http://www.click2houston.com/news/nina-pham-nurse-infected-with-ebola-says-shes-doing-well/29119936 wrote:DALLAS, Texas - The Texas nurse infected with Ebola says in a statement that she's "doing well," and her hospital remains optimistic about her recovery.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas released a statement on Nina Pham's behalf Tuesday as she is treated for Ebola that she contracted while caring for a Liberian man who died from the disease.

In the statement, Pham says she wants "to thank everyone for their kind wishes and prayers."

Yep...Texas Presbyterian has some splaini'n to do.

So does the CDC for that matter. All such cases should be sent straight to Emory University Medical Center. They are the only ones competent to handle such cases.

Sounds like Emory has some trainin' to do as well ... this isn't going away.