AKRON - One of the Texas nurses infected with Ebola could have been contagious several days earlier than previously believed, meaning passengers who shared a flight with her from Dallas to Cleveland on Oct. 10 must be notified, officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said Thursday.
Amber Vinson, 29, who now is being treated in an isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, may have been experiencing symptoms as early as Oct. 10, the day she traveled from Dallas to Cleveland on her way to plan her wedding with family in Akron, said CDC officials who arrived in Akron to help deal with the case Thursday.
In a pair of Thursday news conferences at the Summit County Public Health Department in Akron, state, local, and federal health officials gave updates on the investigation into Ms. Vinson's illness and the people with whom she might have come in contact.
A team of five from the CDC arrived in Ohio late Wednesday and were briefed by state and local officials. CDC team leader Dr. Chris Braden said that new information caused them to revise the timeline of her illness.
'More information that has come through recently would say that we can't rule out the fact that she might have had the start of her illness on Friday,' he said.
Dr. Braden said passengers on the Oct. 10 flight to Cleveland need to be added to the contact list and notified.
Officials from the Ohio Department of Health originally were looking only at her flight from Cleveland back to Dallas on Monday night on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143. At that time, she had been diagnosed with a low-grade fever and may have been contagious.
Meanwhile, Frontier Airlines late Thursday expanded the circle of passengers being notified that they flew with the nurse to include those who flew on a later flight using the same plane.
The airline said that it would contact passengers on a total of seven flights, not just the two flights the nurse took.
The plane spent Thursday sitting in a hangar at the Denver airport. Frontier officials said crews have cleaned it several times, but they were not sure when it would resume flying.
The airline put two pilots and four flight attendants on paid leave for 21 days - health experts consider that the outer limit of how long it would take someone exposed to Ebola to become sick.
Dr. Braden said officials are talking to Ms. Vinson when possible, but said he understands that she is 'not very well' at this point.
Symptoms not typical'She did not have the typical Ebola symptoms even when she was diagnosed,' Dr. Braden said. 'She didn't even have a fever when she presented for evaluation and was diagnosed. That's again where we need to come in with some real judgment calls.'
When she flew from Cleveland to Dallas on Monday, Ms. Vinson had what officials called 'a low-grade fever,' which did not reach the threshold of 100.4 degrees. Usually people diagnosed with Ebola have a high fever, he said.
'We're learning more as we go along,' he said. 'At one point in time, the thinking [was] that if health-care workers protected themselves appropriately, that they were not then exposed to the virus and therefore no reason to limit their movement.'
Police keep watch on a home Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014 in Tallmadge, Ohio, where Amber Joy Vinson stayed over the weekend before flying home to Dallas.ASSOCIATED PRESSEnlarge
Dr. Braden said the CDC has not determined exactly how Ms. Vinson was exposed to the virus. She was among the health-care workers who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, who died of Ebola on Oct. 8 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
'She took care of an Ebola patient and did all that she could to protect herself,' Dr. Braden said. 'This is no fault of her own, I think she deserves a lot of credit for the dedication that she has.'
City in spotlightThursday, caution tape blocked off the Tallmadge home of Ms. Vinson's family where she stayed, one of the few visible signs that the city had become a news headline overnight.
Squad cars blocked access to the street, letting only neighbors pass. Few neighbors were out on the rainy day, but members of the media filtered through in the afternoon.
Tallmadge Mayor David Kline calls his city of about 18,000 'very upbeat.' The football team is doing well, he said.
The quiet community seemed an unlikely place to draw national media attention. It's the type of city that celebrates Pat and Pat Thompson's 66th wedding anniversary on the community bulletin board. There isn't a feeling of panic, residents said, but that doesn't stop the rumors and speculation.
'It's just weird that out of everywhere possible in the entire United States, she's here,' said Nita Gupta, a third-year medical school student at Northeast Ohio Medical University in nearby Rootstown.
'All the hospitals around here have precautions now. They're really taking a stand, which is great,' she said. 'It's all we're talking about. People are asking, 'Should we be doing something?' '
In a city this size, it's a game of six degrees of separation to the story. Ms. Gupta said she was in contact with a nurse who saw one of the nurses who was on the same plane, but not the same flight, as Ms. Vinson.
'The people here are great, very close. Everyone typically knows each other,' said Kerry Swain, an employee at Caffe Italiano in downtown Tallmadge.
Mrs. Swain, who has lived in Tallmadge for 14 years, said she does not know Ms. Vinson, but the topic fueled conversations.
'The rumor mill was running rampant yesterday,' she said. Her husband, a police officer in Akron, told her that bottled water and hand sanitizer were flying off the shelves at the local Giant Eagle grocery story.
'I'm not concerned now, I'm just praying no one else in Tallmadge gets it,' she said.
Mayor Kline said he visited every preschool in the city and met the district's superintendent to make sure schools are going through their normal cleaning.
'Everybody's being cautious, but that's why you prepare,' he said.
Summit County Health Commissioner Gene Nixon said after talking to Ms. Vinson and her family, he has determined she spent most of her time during her visit in the family's home. She did visit one establishment, a bridal shop, he said.
Summit County Medical Director Marguerite Erme identified the store as Coming Attractions, 1220 E. Tallmadge Ave., in Akron.
She said there is no known risk at this time to those who were in the shop, but any patrons who visited the store between noon and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday are asked to call 330-926-3939.
'She wasn't at football games, she wasn't at the grocery store, she was careful around her family,' Mr. Nixon said, referring to the flurry of speculation and misinformation following her diagnosis.
Thursday, CDC officials updated the number of contacts whose health is being monitored to 12 people. Six of those are in Summit County, two in Cuyahoga County and an additional four are scattered across the state. Their counties of residence were not specified. The 12 people are a combination of family, friends, and people who might have traveled with Ms. Vinson.
'None of the contacts have shown any symptoms whatsoever,' Ms. Erme said. 'We follow up with them every day.'
She added that all contacts have temperature checks more than once a day.
Contact Lauren Lindstrom at: llindstrom@theblade.com, 419-724-6154 or on Twitter at @lelindstrom. Entities 0 Name: Vinson Count: 9 1 Name: AKRON Count: 6 2 Name: Dallas Count: 5 3 Name: Dr. Braden Count: 5 4 Name: CDC Count: 5 5 Name: Cleveland Count: 5 6 Name: Tallmadge Count: 4 7 Name: Ohio Count: 2 8 Name: Frontier Airlines Count: 2 9 Name: Pat Thompson Count: 1 10 Name: Pat Count: 1 11 Name: Denver Count: 1 12 Name: Emory University Hospital Count: 1 13 Name: David Kline Count: 1 14 Name: Giant Eagle Count: 1 15 Name: Texas Count: 1 16 Name: Northeast Ohio Medical University Count: 1 17 Name: Summit County Public Health Department Count: 1 18 Name: Amber Vinson Count: 1 19 Name: U.S. Centers for Disease Control Count: 1 20 Name: Ohio Department of Health Count: 1 21 Name: Amber Joy Vinson Count: 1 22 Name: Marguerite Erme Count: 1 23 Name: Atlanta Count: 1 24 Name: Kerry Swain Count: 1 25 Name: Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Count: 1 26 Name: Summit County Health Commissioner Gene Nixon Count: 1 27 Name: Nita Gupta Count: 1 28 Name: United States Count: 1 29 Name: Tallmadge Ave. Count: 1 30 Name: Nixon Count: 1 31 Name: Cuyahoga County Count: 1 32 Name: Gupta Count: 1 33 Name: Kline Count: 1 34 Name: Dr. Chris Braden Count: 1 35 Name: Caffe Italiano Count: 1 36 Name: Erme Count: 1 37 Name: Thomas Eric Duncan Count: 1 38 Name: Lauren Lindstrom Count: 1 39 Name: Swain Count: 1 40 Name: Summit County Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/11yEYxv Title: Dallas Nurse Leaves Trail of Ebola Fears After Cleveland Trip Description: Amber Joy Vinson, the second health care worker to be infected with Ebola who then flew on a plane to Cleveland, left officials scrambling to retrace her steps in the area and identify anyone who may be at risk of contracting the virus.
