CDC investigating after Dallas nurse tests positive for Ebola

Health officials are closely watching the nurses, doctors, and hospital staff who cared for Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan after one of his nurses tested positive for the disease over the weekend.

The nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital wore a gown, gloves, mask and eye shield while caring for Duncan, but something went wrong. Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the agency is investigating why her protective gear did not keep her from getting the disease.

Investigators will scrutinize how workers remove protective wear, since that step of the infection prevention process has a high risk of contamination, Frieden said.

Specialized cleaning crews decontaminated the worker’s apartment Sunday, while police warned residents in the surrounding four blocks of possible exposure. They assured them, however, that the risk of contracting the disease was limited to those who had close contact with an infected person.

“We knew a second case could be a reality, and we’ve been preparing for this possibility,” said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. “We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread.”

Duncan arrived in the United States on Sept. 20 from Liberia, where an Ebola outbreak is raging. He went to the Emergency Room at Texas Health Presbyterian Sept. 25 complaining of abdominal pain and was sent home. He returned Sept. 28 and was diagnosed with Ebola. He died Oct. 8.

The call for travel restrictions on West African countries battling Ebola grew stronger over the weekend. Mike McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told CBS it might be time to consider a limited travel ban on Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

“I think we need to target more the individual themselves and look at the idea of potentially temporarily suspending the 13,000 visas that would be coming out of this region,” McCaul said. He did not recommend stopping all flights from those countries.

The Associated Press and WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry contributed to this report.