CDC admits failings as director says nurse should not have been allowed on commercial flight in days before diagnosis
The second nurse to be diagnosed with Ebola in Texas is to be transferred from Dallas to a special bio-containment unit in Atlanta, officials announced on Wednesday, as they also acknowledged failings in the ongoing response to the arrival of the virus in the US.
Dr Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also said that the nurse, Amber Vinson, should not have been permitted to take the commercial flights that she did before she was diagnosed. Vinson flew from Dallas, Texas, to Cleveland, Ohio, reportedly travelling from there to Akron, Ohio, and then flew back to Dallas on 13 October, one day before she reported Ebola symptoms.
“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 CDC is reaching out to all of the passengers and crew who were aboard Vinson’s return flight to Dallas, but Frieden said he believes the risk to passengers is low because Vinson’s symptoms did not develop until the following day.
The US secretary of health and human services, Sylvia Burwell, said that Vinson will be transported to Emory University hospital in Atlanta, which has successfully treated two Ebola patients and is caring for a third, an unidentified American doctor who contracted the disease while working in the Sierra Leone.
Prior to Thomas Eric Duncan’s diagnosis, all Ebola patients who received treatment in the US were treated in special bio-containment units in Atlanta and Omaha, calling in to question hospitals’ ability to adequately care for patients suffering from the deadly disease.
President Barack Obama has cancelled a planned campaign trip and will be briefed by the relevant members of his cabinet about the country’s Ebola response on Wednesday afternoon.
Texas governor Rick Perry, who is cutting short a trip to Europe to deal with the unfolding situation in Dallas, said in a statement on Wednesday: “This is the first time that our nation has had to deal with a threat such as this. Everyone working on this challenge – from the medical professionals at the bedside to the public health officials addressing containment of the infection – is working to end the threat posed by this disease.”
According to Frieden, Vinson and the other nurse who contracted Ebola, Nina Pham, had “extensive” contact with Duncan in the days before he was diagnosed with the virus – which were days when he was extremely ill, excreting large quantities of highly contagious body fluids.
“Our investigation increasingly suggests that the first several days before the patient was diagnosed appear to be the highest-risk period,” Frieden said.
Based on medical records, Frieden said, it appears the team of healthcare workers who treated Duncan had exposed skin while working in the quarantine unit during the three-day window between when he was admitted and when he was diagnosed.
The 77 healthcare workers who worked in the quarantine room with Duncan or handled samples of his blood were initially instructed to self-monitor for symptoms, Frieden said. After Pham was diagnosed, the healthcare workers were placed under “active monitoring”, which requires a twice daily temperature check by a public health official. At that point, Vinson had already left Texas and traveled to Ohio.
Frieden said three people who may have made direct contact with Vinson have been identified and are being actively monitored. Officials are also monitoring one person who may have made direct contact with Pham, as well as her dog.
Pham is in “improved condition today”, according to Frieden, while Vinson is “ill but clinically stable”.