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2nd Texas Health Care Worker Has Ebola

Treated original patient.

The Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed Wednesday that a second health-care worker who treated the first U.S. Ebola patient has tested positive for Ebola. “A second health-care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who provided care for the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States has tested positive for the disease,” the department said in a statement. The patient reported a fever on Tuesday and was immediately isolated. “Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored,” said the department. The first health-care worker to contract Ebola in the U.S. is nurse Nina Pham. She tested positive after caring for the first U.S. Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, who passed away last week. Pham appears to be improving, and the hospital upgraded her condition to good. Since Pham’s diagnosis, some have questioned the efficacy of protocols to protect health-care worker have been questioned. Nurses also slammed Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital for its treatment of Duncan and lack of safety protocols.