COLUMBUS, Ohio – As health officials try to understand how a nurse in Texas contracted Ebola from a patient who died, Ohio health officials are planning a briefing for the media Tuesday morning on the precautions that are being taken in the state.
EXTRA: Ebola facts
According to the Ohio Department of Health, Ebola does not pose an imminent risk in Ohio residents but, “out of an abundance of caution.” the agency has been working since this summer with local health departments, hospitals, EMS responders, physicians, other health care professionals and other agencies to be prepared.
Health care leaders, including representatives of county governments, hospitals asnd the state Department of Public Safety will hold the briefing during a planning seminar at the State Emergency Operations Center on the Northwest Side.
In Dallas, health officials are continuing to monitor the roughly 70 hospital staff members in Dallas that helped treat a Liberian man with the Ebola virus.
One of those health care workers, a 26-year-old nurse, has contracted the virus, and she’s been given a blood transfusion donated by a doctor who beat the illness.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden says he would not be surprised if more people fall ill because Ebola patients become more contagious as the disease progresses.