Amber Vinson is the Texas nurse who flew on a plane with more than 130 people on board on the day before she came down with symptoms of Ebola.
Amber Vinson, 29, who is the second person infected in the US, fell ill on Tuesday, October 14.
Both she and nurse Nina Pham, 26, had treated Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, who died a week ago in Dallas.
A nurses’ union has said those treating Thomas Eric Duncan were not given full protection and had parts of their skin exposed
More than 70 healthcare workers who may have come in contact with him at the hospital are being monitored for symptoms, the hospital’s director has said.
Meanwhile, the UN’s Ebola mission chief says the world is falling behind in the race to contain the virus, which has killed more than 4,000 in West Africa.
On October 15, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it wanted to interview the passengers on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 from Cleveland, Ohio, to Dallas, Texas on October 13.
It said it was taking the measure “because of the proximity in time between the evening flight and first report of illness the following morning”.
Both Amber Vinson and Nina Pham treated Thomas Eric Duncan early in his stay at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas when he had “extensive production of body fluids”, said CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden.
A national nurse union told reporters on October 15 the health workers treating Thomas Eric Duncan had not been properly protected and called for all health workers treating Ebola patients to receive full protective suits and training from hospitals.
Union director RoseAnn DeMoro said staff treated Thomas Eric Duncan for days without the necessary protective gear, and hazardous waste was allowed to pile up to the ceiling.
The CDC has appointed a “site manager” in Dallas to standardize the protective equipment and supervise the method of putting it off and on.
Amber Vinson flew to Cleveland on October 10, even though she was being monitored for signs of Ebola and therefore should not have flown on a commercial plane, Dr. Tom Frieden said.
When Amber Vinson returned from Ohio, she was not showing symptoms of the disease, the crew has told CDC investigators.
Health experts say people who are not showing symptoms are not contagious.
On the morning of October 14, Amber Vinson came down with a fever and was isolated within 90 minutes. Her diagnosis was announced early on October 15.
One of the ill women is to be transferred to Emory University hospital in Atlanta, which oversaw the recovery of two US aid workers who had caught the disease in Africa.
Thomas Eric Duncan, who was the first person to be diagnosed in the US with Ebola, started showing symptoms of the disease just days after he arrived in Texas from Liberia, where he contracted it.
An initial set of 48 people who were in contact with Thomas Eric Duncan before he was admitted to hospital are nearing the end of the window in which they could develop an Ebola infection.
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