The unidentified worker, who cared for Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, was infected after a "breach in protocol," said Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's the first time someone has contracted Ebola inside U.S. borders.
Even as the CDC has hastened to reassure the public that the virus won't spread in the U.S., the agency doesn't monitor hospitals and has no authority to make sure they comply with official guidelines, according to Abbigail Tumpey, a CDC spokeswoman who is leading the education outreach to hospitals.
"There are 5,000 hospitals in the U.S. and I would say probably the number of them that have actually done drills or put plans in place is small," she said.
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