Houston medical community closely watching Ebola cases

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Houston's medical community is closely watching Ebola-related developments from Dallas and taking steps in order to be ready should a patient ever walk through doors at any local facility.

The City of Houston's Public Health Authority, Dr. David Persse, says EMTs, firefighters, doctors and nurses are now all asking patients first about any fever or symptoms they might have. Patients are next then asked if they've traveled to West Africa or have had contact with anyone who has.

Persse Sayshe's had a number of health care professionals express concern about their own safety while treating a patient potentially with Ebola. In response, he's reiterated the basic steps most hospitals have taken in order to prepare: educating staff on use of personal protective equipment and how to safely remove it without getting contaminated once patient care is complete.

He encourages patience, as investigators must figure out how that Dallas nurse became infected.

"We just need to wait and see. Gotta give them a chance to figure out where things went wrong, and then we need to learn from that," says Persse.

Meantime the director of the CDC today apologized for a statement he made yesterday when he characterized the nurse's Ebola case as a "breach in protocol."

Dr. Tom Frieden says, "Some interpreted that as finding 'fault' with the hospital or the health care worker... and I'm sorry if that was the impression given. That was certainly not my intention."

The CDC still cannot explain how this nurse who was treating Ebola patient Eric Duncan could become ill. She was said to be wearing personal protective equipment.