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Texas worker quarantined on cruise ship in Belize
A Texas hospital health worker who may have handled Thomas Eric Duncan's fluid samples has been quarantined on a cruise ship in Belize -- another reminder of the widespread fears of the deadly virus.
Though the employee did not have direct contact with Duncan, he or she "may have had contact with his specimen," the U.S. State Department said Friday, according to the CNN article.
A doctor at the cruise ship has declared the worker symptom-free and in good health, but the worker will remain under isolation as a precaution, it said.
It's been 19 days since the worker handled Duncan's fluid samples -- two days shy of the 21-day incubation period for Ebola.
The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital worker boarded the commercial cruise ship Sunday from Galveston, Texas.
At the time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had not updated its monitoring requirements, and required only self-monitoring, said Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the State Department.
"The hospital employee and traveling partner have voluntarily remained isolated in a cabin," Psaki said. "We are working with the cruise line to safely bring them back to the United States out of an abundance of caution."
The Belize government turned down a request by the United States to evacuate the worker through the international airport in Belize City.
"We remain in close contact with U.S. officials ... we have maintained the position that when even the smallest doubt remains, we will ensure the health and safety of the Belizean people," the government said in a statement.
Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, died last week.
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6 Responses to “Texas worker quarantined on cruise ship in Belize”
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