Can the US health care system control Ebola’s spread?

A health care worker who cared for an Ebola patient in Dallas has tested positive for the virus, becoming the first individual to contract Ebola on U.S. soil. Now questions are swirling over the system’s ability to contain the disease.

Speaking to reporters in a televised press conference, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), attributed the disease’s spread to a “breach in protocol” in the treatment of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, who died last week.

“We’re doing a detailed investigation into what might have happened in the infection of the health care worker,” Frieden said. “Looking at process of isolation, looking at the taking off of equipment — we’re not going to wait.”

The worker, who has asked not to be identified, fell ill after treating Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Duncan first went to the hospital’s emergency room on Sept. 25 but was sent home without being screened for Ebola. He returned two days later and he was admitted. He died Oct. 8. Health officials say they can’t pinpoint when the virus was transmitted to the health worker.

“We wish the situation was different in Dallas than the situation today,” Frieden said. “We wish this individual was not infected, and we are concerned that there could be other infections in the coming days. What we are doing today is implementing new steps while looking longer term at wherever the disease may arise.”

The CDC and public health officials began their containment efforts by monitoring 48 people who came in contact with Duncan before he was diagnosed and hospitalized. To date, none of those people have become symptomatic.

Now that there has been a new infection in the U.S., the CDC will monitor all the health care workers involved in Duncan’s treatment.

“We will double down on training, outreach and assistance throughout the health care system, through professional associations, through hospitals, through group organizations and individuals reaching out to health departments at the state and county levels and cities so we can increase the awareness of Ebola and increase the ability to respond rapidly,” Frieden said.

Among health care workers, anxiety is abundant.

“We do have to step up training. This is one of those things where you need constant attention and people need to go to the next level,” said Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a medical ethics expert at the University of Pennsylvania.

On Sunday the labor union National Nurses United, staged a protest over what it sees as a lack of Ebola protocols and training in hospitals across the country. 

How did a health care worker treating an Ebola patient contract the disease?

How can U.S. health authorities contain the disease more effectively?

Do authorities have the capacity to prevent a wider outbreak?

We consulted a panel of experts for the Inside Story.