By Miguel Bustillo and Laura Stevens
DALLAS--A Texas health-care worker who may have had contact with
clinical specimens from the first man diagnosed with Ebola in the
U.S. has self-quarantined onboard a Caribbean cruise ship, the U.S.
Department of State said Friday.
The unnamed health-care worker from Texas Health Presbyterian
Hospital Dallas left the U.S. via a Carnival Cruise Lines ship on
Oct. 12 from Galveston, Texas.
"We are working with the cruise line to safely bring them back
to the United States out of an abundance of caution," the State
Department said.
Carnival said the passenger, a lab supervisor at the Dallas
hospital, hasn't exhibited any symptoms of the virus and isn't
considered a risk to any other passengers or crew.
The cruise ship's doctor has monitored the worker and she is
said to be in good health, but she is voluntarily isolated in a
cabin along with her travel companion as a precaution, the State
Department said.
The ship, the Carnival Magic, has a guest capacity of 3,690 and
onboard crew of up to 1,367, according to the company website. It
is based in Galveston and operates seven-day cruises to the
Caribbean, the company said in a statement. The ship is scheduled
to return to Galveston on Sunday.
The hospital worker was considered at very low risk for
contracting Ebola and was originally only required to self monitor
for possible signs of the disease. The person "was out of the
country before being notified of [the Centers for Disease
Control's] updated requirements for active monitoring," the State
Department said.
Texas and federal authorities tightened monitoring requirements
this week after two nurses who treated the initial Ebola patient,
Thomas Eric Duncan, contracted Ebola. It was at that point, after
more active monitoring began, that "it was discovered that an
employee...had departed the United States," the State Department
said.
The hospital said it had no immediate information on the
matter.
The worker has been checking her temperature daily since Oct. 6,
and hasn't had a fever or any other signs of illness. It has been
19 days since the person was potentially around Mr. Duncan's fluid
samples, near the end of the 21-day period when a person is
believed to be likely to contract the disease.
The government of Belize said in a statement Thursday night that
it had been contacted by the U.S. about transporting the woman
through the country's Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport,
but said that "out of an abundance of caution" declined to
facilitate the request.
"The passenger never set foot in Belize," the Belize government
statement said.
Write to Miguel Bustillo at miguel.bustillo@wsj.com and Laura
Stevens at laura.stevens@wsj.com
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