Nurse with virus stable
2008-10-14 16:15
Johannesburg - The condition of the Morningside Medi-Clinic nurse who contracted the recently identified arenavirus is stable while two other people have been admitted for closer monitoring, the clinic said on Tuesday.
Spokesperson Melinda Pelser said another nurse and laboratory technician had been admitted, although neither was suspected of having the viral haemorrhagic fever.
Pelser said a paramedic who had been in contact with one of the patients who died was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday.
"He was not suspected of having the disease," she said.
The hospital was still monitoring all the people who had been in contact with those who contracted the disease.
"This monitoring is carried out at home, and the results are telephoned in to Morningside Medi-Clinic. Anyone who shows a change in temperature is brought into the hospital for increased temperature monitoring as part of this conservative monitoring protocol."
Pelser said the monitoring exercise would continue for twenty one days from the person's last close contact with the infected person.
- SAPA