Dallas Health-Care Worker Tests Positive for Ebola

Hopefully, he or she will qualify for the blood transfusion from an Ebola-infected survivor, the same treatment undertaken by infected NBC freelance-cameraman Ashoka Mukpo.

The NBC News freelancer who came down with Ebola while working in Liberia has made a significant improvement, his family said Saturday. 

"Ashoka has been steadily improving over the past 48 hours. He has been symptom free during that time and is increasing his physical strength. His appetite has returned and he is asking for food. His spirits are much more uplifted and continue to improve," the Ashoka Mukpo's family said in a statement.   "The team taking care of him in Nebraska now feels he has turned the corner and with time, will make a full recovery."

Mukpo, 33, received a blood transfusion from another Ebola survivor, Dr. Kent Brantly, as part of his treatment at The Nebraska Medical Center. He contracted the deadly disease while working as a camera operator for Dr. Nancy Snyderman’s team covering the outbreak in Liberia, which has been hardest-hit by the virus that has killed more than 4,000.

The Washington Post reports:

A Texas hospital worker who treated an Ebola-stricken Liberian man in Dallas has tested positive for the deadly virus in a preliminary test. Announced early Sunday morning, four days after the death of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, it is the first apparent case of Ebola transmission in the United States.
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It was unclear what role the worker had in caring for Duncan.

ADDED:
And here is the New York Times report :

The worker, who was not identified, was an employee of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, Thomas E. Duncan, died last week.
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Mr. Duncan left Liberia on Sept. 19 on a flight to United States. He landed in Dallas on Sept. 20 and first went to the emergency room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital feeling ill on Sept. 25. He was released by the hospital, which had failed to view him as a potential Ebola case for reasons that remain unclear, and returned Sept. 28 after his condition worsened.

Ebola cannot be spread until a person is symptomatic, and Mr. Duncan told doctors he first felt ill on Sept. 24. As he became sicker, the amount of virus in his system increased, and so did the risk of contagion.

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Health officials have been monitoring 48 people in the Dallas area who may have come into direct or indirect contact with Mr. Duncan. It was unclear if the person who tested positive was among those under observation.  Ten of the 48 people were considered high risk, including seven health care workers, Mr. Duncan’s fiancee, Louise Troh, and two other relatives and community members, all of whom were confirmed to have contact with Mr. Duncan.

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On Friday, Josephus Weeks, a nephew of Mr. Duncan, released Mr. Duncan’s medical records to The Associated Press. The document raised new questions about why the hospital had sent him home after his first visit to its emergency room on Sept. 25. The medical records showed that during that first visit, his temperature had peaked at 103 degrees and he had reported severe pain, rating it an eight on a scale of 1 to 10.

The details contradicted the hospital’s initial description of Mr. Duncan’s condition. It had said that he had a temperature of 100.1 and that his symptoms “were not severe at the time he first visited the hospital emergency department.”