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Information Relay Failure Admitted In Texas Ebola Victim Case

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A patient was diagnosed with Ebola on Sept. 30 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.(Photo: Mike Stone, Getty Images)

THE WASHINGTON POST

By Mark Berman October 1 at 3:15 PM

The man in Texas who tested positive for Ebola told hospital officials he had traveled from West Africa when he sought treatment on Friday, but that information was not relayed to everyone treating him at that time, authorities said Wednesday.

As a result, the man was diagnosed with a “low-grade, common viral disease” and sent home that day, said Mark C. Lester, executive vice president of the health-care system that includes Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, the Dallas facility treating the Ebola patient.

“Regretfully, that information was not fully communicated throughout the full team,” Lester said during a news conference Wednesday. “As a result, the full import of that information wasn’t factored into the clinical decision-making.”

The oversight allowed this man to leave the hospital at a time when he was symptomatic, according to the timeline outlined by federal health officials. The Centers for Disease Control issued national guidelines in August for evaluating potential Ebola cases, which included seeing if a patient with certain symptoms had recently visited a West African country hit by the Ebola outbreak.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/10/01/texas-patient-with-ebola-told-hospital-workers-during-initial-visit-he-had-traveled-from-west-africa/

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usatoday.com - by Liz Szabo - October 1, 2014

A man infected with Ebola was allowed to leave a Dallas hospital last week because the results of a screening weren't shared with his health care team, which concluded he had a common virus and discharged him, hospital officials said Wednesday.

While health experts agree that the USA is not at risk for a large Ebola epidemic like the one affecting West Africa, some doctors are concerned that the infected patient was sent home from the hospital without treatment the first time he sought care.

The Ebola patient, now in intensive care at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, arrived in the USA on Sept. 20 without symptoms and sought care Sept. 26. He was sent home, only to return to the hospital two days later and be admitted.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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