Ebola is not going away anytime soon in the U.S.
Nina Pham, 26, is fighting for her life. She was on the medical team that treated Liberia native, Charles Duncan, 45, who passed away on October 8 recently from the deadly Ebola virus at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital.
Pham admitted herself to the hospital when her temperature spiked on Friday. Doctors have announced she’s “clinically stable” and definitely has the deadly Ebola virus. She is being treated in an isolation ward.
Duncan, who was known as patient zero, passed away after complications of Ebola and was suspected of bringing the virus to the U.S. knowingly when he arrived from Monrovia on September 19. We’ve learned in his last days, Duncan suffered with explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting, which left him begging for diapers.
The hospital’s chief clinical officer, Dr. Dan Varga, confirms all staff followed CDC recommended precautions – “gown, glove, mask and shield” – while treating Duncan, but surmise the point of contact may have come when Pham removed her clinical armor.
Ebola victims suffer chronic diarrhea and bleeding, with blood and feces being the most infectious bodily fluids.
Duncan, underwent two surgical procedures considered particularly high-risk for transmitting the Ebola virus – kidney dialysis and intubation to help him to breathe – due to the spread of blood and saliva.
Nurse Bonnie Castillo, the hospital’s head nurse, has criticized the CDC for pointing the finger at Pham for breach of protocol when treating Duncan.
