Hundreds more passengers to be notified after Ebola nurse’s flights

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its search for passengers who traveled on the same flights as a Texas nurse later diagnosed with Ebola, asking Thursday night that anyone who traveled on an Oct. 10 flight from Dallas to Cleveland to contact the agency.

The CDC said the move was “based on additional information obtained during interviews of close contacts” of the nurse, Amber Vinson, but did not elaborate.

“Public health professionals will interview passengers about the flight, answer their questions and arrange follow-up if warranted,” the CDC said in a statement. “Individuals who are determined to be at any potential risk will be actively monitored.”

Vinson was diagnosed with Ebola on Wednesday after treating Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. She traveled to Cleveland on Frontier Airlines Flight 1142 on Oct. 10 and returned to Dallas on Flight 1143 on Oct. 13.

Vinson, 29, had flown to Cleveland to visit family and plan her wedding, officials with the Summit County Public Health Department said.

Vinson had been among the healthcare workers self-monitoring for Ebola symptoms after Duncan’s treatment. Duncan, who had arrived from Liberia on Sept. 20 and went to the hospital with symptoms on Sept. 25, died of Ebola on Oct. 8. Vinson was the second nurse who treated Duncan to become ill. Nina Pham, 26, was diagnosed over the weekend.

CDC Director Thomas Frieden has said Vinson had a temperature of 99.5 on Monday, below the threshold that would bar her from flying.

The day after Vinson returned to Dallas, she went to Texas Health Presbyterian with a low-grade fever. She was immediately isolated, and her Ebola diagnosis was confirmed Wednesday, CDC officials said.

At least 900 passengers will be notified now.

Health officials had already asked all 132 passengers on Vinson’s Dallas-bound flight to contact the CDC for possible monitoring. Then, on Thursday, Frontier said it would contact about 750 others who had flown on the same plane after Vinson’s journey. Frontier confirmed that the plane operated five additional flights on Tuesday before the airline took it out of service after the CDC’s notification.

In a statement, Frontier said it was asking passengers to contact the CDC if they had any concerns.

“The CDC has no concerns that these passengers are at risk; however, if they have concerns, they should contact their local health authorities,” Frontier said of those on the five later flights. In another email, the company said, “Out of an abundance of caution, Frontier believes contacting these passengers is the right thing to do.”

Then, later Thursday, the CDC broadened the list to those who flew with Vinson to Cleveland on Oct. 10. It was unclear how many were aboard that flight, but the flights on Monday and Tuesday carried about 880 passengers, Frontier said.

The plane was sanitized Monday night and Tuesday night according to standard CDC procedures, the airline said.

After the CDC informed the airline Wednesday that Vinson may have had a fever while she was on board, Chief Executive David Siegel said he had ordered the replacement of seat covers and carpeting near where she was sitting, and that the flight’s six crew members would be put on paid leave for 21 days as a precaution.

Also Wednesday night, Frontier said the CDC had notified the airline that Vinson “may have been symptomatic earlier than initially suspected.”

Ebola is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of a person with symptoms, including vomit, blood or feces. The CDC says nonsymptomatic individuals cannot spread the deadly virus.

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