Ugh, what terrible news.
The new recently infected health care worker, who has yet to be identified, helped treat Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian citizen who tragically died of the virus a week ago.
While the health care worker wore protective gear to treat Duncan, he still managed to catch the disease — which is exactly what happened to Nina Pham, a nurse who was diagnosed with Ebola over the weekend.
[ Related: The First U.S. Ebola Patient Has Died In Texas ]
Since the news of the infections broke, it has come to light that Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital wasn’t equipped to treat Thomas OR to properly contain the disease. Which begs the question of how many of the U.S.’s hospitals actually are!
Oh wait, we have the answer. Four.
A source close to the situation explained:
“In hindsight, Duncan should have been transferred immediately to either Emory University Hospital in Atlanta or Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Those hospitals are among only four in the country that have bio-containment units and have been preparing for years to treat a highly infectious disease like Ebola.”
We hope the most recent infection at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital is the last and that all other cases of Ebola are treated at capable medical institutions.
If the world could put a stop to this soon, that’d be great.
[Image via AP Images.]