Both became infected while caring for a Liberian patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.
The
second woman should not have boarded a domestic flight in the days
before she was diagnosed, though there was an "extremely low likelihood"
that she could have infected fellow travelers, said Thomas Frieden, the
head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"She
was in a group of individuals known to have exposure to Ebola. She
should not have traveled on a commercial airline," Frieden told
reporters.
CDC guidelines
outline the need for "controlled movement," and that does not include
taking any kind of public transportation, he said.
He
also noted that the woman was self-monitoring for signs of Ebola
symptoms, and that she found her temperature to be 99.5 -- short of the
100.4 fever threshold that would have required her to seek medical care
given her recent exposure to an Ebola patient -- but that her
colleague's diagnosis was not yet known when she boarded the plane.
The second health care worker had flown on Frontier Air from Dallas/Fort Worth to Cleveland Ohio, on October 10 and returned on October 13.
She discovered she had a fever on Tuesday and was immediately isolated in a hospital. Her diagnosis was announced Wednesday.
- Seeking 132 travelers -
"She
did not vomit. She was not bleeding. So the level of risk of people
around her would be extremely low, but because of that extra margin of
safety we will be contacting them all."
Frieden
said she was currently "ill but clinically stable" and that she would
be transferred to Emory University hospital in Atlanta for treatment.
The
first person to receive an Ebola infection in the United States, Nina
Pham, is a nurse at the same hospital who also became ill after treating
Duncan, who died of the virus on October 8.
Both
had extensive contact with Duncan from September 28 until September 30,
when he was diagnosed with Ebola. He was vomiting and had diarrhea
during that time, Frieden said.
"The
assessment of the team is that in those first several days in the
hospital, a variety of forms of personal protective equipment were
used," Frieden.
"It is critical that be done consistently and correctly."
The gear includes a mask, gown, gloves and face shield.
Frieden described the latest case as "very concerning" and said officials were preparing for more.
"The
investigation is identifying additional healthcare workers who will be
very closely monitored and we are planning for the possibility of
additional cases in the coming days."
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