Health Worker Who May Have Had Contact With Ebola Is on Cruise Ship

Adding a new and troubling dimension to the search for Americans possibly exposed to the Ebola virus, the State Department said Friday that an employee of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who may have had contact with specimens of the disease had left the United States aboard a cruise ship.

The employee and a traveling partner, who were not identified by name, had agreed to remain isolated in a cabin aboard the vessel, the State Department said, and 'out of an abundance of caution' efforts were underway to repatriate them. A physician aboard the cruise ship had said the employee was in good health.

The disclosure by a State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, added to the growing concerns that have gripped Americans, health care workers, lawmakers and leaders across the country since a Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, tested positive for Ebola last month and died on Oct. 8 in the same hospital.

Since then, two nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Joy Vinson, have become infected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, already trying to trace passengers who were on the same flight that Ms. Vinson took to Dallas from Cleveland on Monday, have now extended the search to a second airplane she took in the opposite direction last Friday.

Ms. Vinson and Ms. Pham were among nearly 100 workers at the Dallas hospital who cared for Mr. Duncan.

Ms. Psaki said that, as part of the C.D.C.'s 'detailed contact trace investigation conducted in response to the first Ebola case in Dallas, it was discovered that an employee of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital had departed the United States via a commercial cruise ship on October 12 from Galveston, Texas.'

'The employee did not have direct contact' with Mr. Duncan, the statement said, 'but may have had contact with clinical specimens collected from him.'

'The individual was out of the country before being notified of the C.D.C.'s updated requirements for active monitoring,' her statement said. 'At the time the hospital employee left the country, C.D.C. was requiring only self-monitoring.'

It has been 19 days since the passenger may have processed samples of fluids from Mr. Duncan, Ms. Psaki said.

'The cruise line has actively supported the C.D.C.'s efforts to speak with the individual, whom the cruise ship's medical doctor has monitored and confirmed was in good health,' the statement said. 'Following this examination, the hospital employee and traveling partner have voluntarily remained isolated in a cabin. We are working with the cruise line to safely bring them back to the United States out of an abundance of caution.'

Such are the concerns about the spread of Ebola that President Obama raised the possibility on Thursday that he might appoint an 'Ebola czar' to manage the government's response. Schools were closed in two states, hospitals and airlines kept employees home from work, and Americans debated how much they should worry about a disease that has captured national attention but has so far produced only three known cases in Dallas.

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