Dallas Hospital Did Not Thoroughly Train Staff to Handle Ebola

Health care workers in the Dallas hospital that treated a patient who died from Ebola and then treated two nurses who contracted the disease never received in-person training on how to treat Ebola patients and avoid spreading the highly contagious disease, a top hospital official said at a Congressional hearing today.

Dr. Daniel Varga said that, even though guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were sent to the emergency department at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in late July, there was no follow-up training ordered for the staff. Less than two months later, the hospital staff sent a man with Ebola home with a fever even though he was likely contagious at the time.

Varga is one of the panel of top American health officials testifying in Congress as part of a hearing on the federal government's response to Ebola cases in the United States.