(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
An error in protocol is being blamed for the spread of Ebola to a second person in the United States.
A Liberian man carrying the virus died in a Texas hospital last week, and now a doctor who treated him has come up positive in preliminary testing.
Darren Mara reports.
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Liberian man Thomas Eric Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola last month after travelling to the United States and eventually succumbed to the virus last week.
Now, US health authorities have confirmed preliminary results show he passed the virus on to a doctor treating him in hospital.
Texas Health Resource's Dr David Varga says the health worker began showing symptoms late last week and was quickly whisked into isolation.
"Late last Saturday evening, a preliminary blood test on a caregiver at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas proved positive for Ebola. This healthcare worker had been under the self-monitoring regimen prescribed by the CDC and based on involvement in caring for the patient Thomas Eric Duncan during his care that started on September 28th."
Dr Varga says the female doctor's condition is stable and a close contact of hers has also been placed in isolation as a precautionary measure.
He told reporters he is concerned the infection occurred despite the use of protective medical equipment and clothing.
"This individual was following full CDC precautions, which are 'Barrier and Droplet' -- so gown, glove, mask and shield." (Reporter:) "How disturbing is it that, even after those precautions, this person has still contracted the disease?" (Varga:) "We're very concerned."
The case has sparked an investigation by the US Centres for Disease Control and a hunt for more healthcare workers who may have been exposed to the deadly virus.
The CDC's Dr Thomas Frieden says 48 other people who may also have had contact are being observed.
He says, at some point during the care of the original patient, there was a breach in protocol which resulted in the infection of the healthcare worker.
"Unfortunately, it is possible in the coming days that we will see additional cases of Ebola. This is because the health-care workers who cared for this individual may have had a breach of the same nature as the individual who appears now to have had a preliminary positive test. That risk is in the 48 people who are being monitored, all of whom have been tested daily, none of whom so far have developed symptoms or fever."
Dr Frieden says a program to build up the education and training of healthcare workers to deal with Ebola at the Texas hospital has already begun.
He says the CDC is also recommending the number of workers who care for Ebola patients be kept to an absolute minimum.
"The two areas where we will be looking particularly closely is the performance of kidney dialysis and respiratory intubation. Both of those procedures may spread contaminated materials and are considered high risk procedures."
US president Barack Obama has asked federal authorities to take additional steps to make sure the country's medical system is prepared to follow the correct protocols.
The CDC admits the infection of a second person with Ebola is what it calls disturbing news for the Dallas community.
Dr Frieden says, though, health authorities remain confident any further spread of the virus can be prevented.
Those kinds of reassurances have not managed to stave off global concern of the virus's spread, with infections recorded in seven countries so far.
More than four thousand people have died in the epidemic, the vast majority in the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
In Spain, a nurse being treated for Ebola remains in a critical condition, but her doctors in Madrid insist there is still hope she can recover.
Spanish health authorities say 44 year old Teresa Romero is conscious and sitting unaided.
Meanwhile, three more people joined 12 others hospitalised in Madrid for monitoring.
Fernando Simon is a spokesman for the Special Committee for the Ebola Crisis.
(Translated) "The amount of the virus Teresa has seems to be lowering. It's important to believe there's hope regarding her case. We have to be careful. It's a good sign for hope, but a person who's contracted Ebola is always in critical condition."
Meanwhile, an Australian nurse who sparked an Ebola scare has left hospital in Cairns after a second round of tests came back negative.
A Cairns Hospital spokesman says Sue Ellen Kovack went home early this morning.
The 57 year old recently returned from Sierra Leone, where she had been treating Ebola victims.
