The health worker is the second person to contract ebola on US soil and was reportedly treating patient Thomas Duncan, a US citizen who contracted the disease after visiting West Africa.
Mr Duncan became symptomatic AFTER flying back to the US on three different flight paths.
The nature of the disease means that those most at risk are people that he was in contact with after he started showing symptoms.
Those he was in contact with during the 2-week incubation period within which he travelled are reportedly not at risk.
"Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored," a spokesperson for the Texas state department for health said.
The UK government has now started ‘screening’ for Ebola, targeting passengers whose flight paths pass through West Africa.
‘Screening’ consist of taking the passenger’s temperature (a high temperature is an early symptom of Ebola) and asking general questions over their health and if a member of their family has had Ebola.
Critics of the screening programme point out that the 2-week incubation period means that those infected may still be allowed to enter the UK.
Health workers have advised that anyone who fears they may have contracted the disease do NOT visit their GP or enter a busy A&E unit where they could potentially spread the virus further. They have instead asked those ‘at risk’ to keep in touch by phone.
A UK health worker speaking to the BBC yesterday maintains that you CAN’T catch Ebola simply by going on public transport, unlike other potentially life-threatening viruses such as the flu.
Sadly for the family of Thomas Duncan, information such as this is of little reassurance.
The remains of Thomas Duncan- along with his belongings- were cremated under strict federal guidelines, put in place due to the Ebola victim’s bodies being particularly dangerous to handle.
His family were sadly unable to attend the cremation, and paid tribute to him during a memorial service following his death from Ebola.
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