A patient with Ebola-like symptoms was seen at the Veterans Affairs emergency room in Dallas this past Thanksgiving weekend. Hospital officials have reportedly ruled out the deadly virus.
The Dallas Morning News reported that hospital officials stated the patient was considered “extremely low risk” but implemented the response protocol for handling the threat of such a serious infection. Hospital employees wore protective gear and placed the patient in an isolation room.
The statement from the hospital was reported to say that VA North Texas was working with local, state, and federal health agencies and the Centers for Disease Control.
The hospital said the unnamed patient will be transferred to a regional Ebola assessment facility as a precautionary measure.
Breitbart Texas was in Dallas and extensively reported about the Ebola exposure there in the fall of 2015. A Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, died at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas after being diagnosed with Ebola a few days after arriving in the states. The man had gone to the hospital for treatment but was sent home with antibiotics. Duncan was the first man to be diagnosed with the deadly virus in the country. Duncan’s family was quarantined after refusing to comply with health official demands that they stay in their residence.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins made headlines after he went into Duncan’s apartment to see his family. Jenkins told the local newspaper that this latest patient does not have the virus. Jenkins reportedly declined to comment further citing confidentiality requirements.
As reported by Breitbart News during the Ebola scare in Texas last fall, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota advised the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) that “there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles.” This was reported to include exhaled breath.
CIDRAP warned that surgical facemasks do not prevent transmission of Ebola. The Center also reported that healthcare professionals must be outfitted with full-hooded protective gear and powered air-purifying respirators.
Nina Pham, one of the two nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas who contracted the Ebola virus from Duncan, filed a lawsuit against the hospital’s parent company. As reported by Breitbart Texas, her lawsuit revealed troubling allegations and a long list of safety failures and unnecessary risks committed by the hospital with public relations concerns. “When Nina needed THR the most, THR failed her, despite the fact that THR wanted to sell her to the public as the face of the company,” said the complaint.
Nurse Amber Vinson returned to Dallas after being treated at the National Institutes of Health hospital in Maryland in later October. Vinson had also contacted the virus while attending to Duncan.
Nurses Vinson and Pham, as reported by Breitbart Texas in October 2014, were the only two people to both contract and recover from Ebola in the United States.
Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as an associate judge and prosecutor. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2
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