Texas Hospital Worker Quarantined On Carnival Cruise Ship In Belize
A Carnival cruise ship is reportedly stranded in Belize after one of its passengers is suspected of carrying Ebola specimens.
The passenger, a health worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, handled patient Thomas Eric Duncan's bodily fluid samples 19 days ago. Duncan died of Ebola at the hospital last week.
The passenger of the cruise ship has reportedly been placed in quarantine on the ship, and the Belize government has reportedly said that to protect its population, it will not assist in a rescue evacuation.
"We remain in close contact with U.S. officials […] we have maintained the position that when even the smallest doubt remains, we will ensure the health and safety of the Belizean people," the Belize government said in a statement.
Although the passenger remains in isolation, a doctor on the cruise ship reportedly declared the passenger to be healthy and free of any possible Ebola symptoms.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement that the hospital worker "may have had contact with [Duncan's] specimen."
Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said "The hospital employee and traveling partner have voluntarily remained isolated in a cabin" on the cruise ship. "We are working with the cruise line to safely bring them back to the United States out of an abundance of caution."
The cruise ship passenger is reportedly two days short of the 21 day period for which Ebola can incubate in the body and show symptoms. They had left on their Carnival Magic cruise from Texas before the Center for Disease Control and Prevention implemented isolation protocol for all of the health workers at the Dallas hospital. Two other nurses who worked closely with Duncan have tested positive for the virus.
