Nurse With Ebola May Have Had Symptoms Before Boarding Flight

ByABC NEWS ABCNews logo
Friday, October 17, 2014

The second nurse at a Dallas hospital that contracted Ebola may have showed signs of the deadly virus as early as last Friday -- days before previously thought by health care officials, according to a CDC official in Ohio.

Dr. Chris Braden of the CDC, speaking at a news conference today, said officials are looking into a new timeline.

"[We have] started to look at the possibility that she had symptoms going back as far as Saturday ... which has to do with the bridal shop. But some more information that's come through recently, we can't rule out that she might have had the start of her illness Friday. We need to back now to the flight on [Oct.] 10th to give our investigation the right context."

Meanwhile, Amber Vinson's uncle and family spokesman Lawrence Vinson said in a statement "Amber is stable, and we are continuing to work with her doctors as her treatment progresses. Amber is a respected professional and has always had a strong passion for nursing. She followed all of the protocols necessary when treating a patient in Dallas, and right now, she's trusting in her doctors and nurses as she is now the patient."

A CDC spokesperson told ABC News that Vinson was "feeling unwell' before she flew to Cleveland. However "out of an abundance of caution" they are backing up the time frame for their investigation and will be contacting all passengers on the flight from Dallas to Cleveland, the spokesperson added.

Frontier Airlines confirms that they are alerting passengers from the Dallas-Cleveland flight Vinson took on October 10.

This comes as officials said that Vinson visited a bridal shop in Ohio. Coming Attractions Bridal and Formal in Akron is now closed, but owner Anna Younker said Vinson, 29, now in isolation in Atlanta, was at the shop on Saturday so her friends could get measured and look at bridesmaid dresses.

Vinson, who bought her own wedding dress at the store last summer, wasn't showing any symptoms and was nice, calm and soft-spoken, Younker recalled.

A sales worker at the bridal shop noticed Vinson's photo on the news. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Younker and her workers not to worry in a series of phone calls, explaining that the woman was not contagious during her visit.

However, county health officials suggested they clean the store with regular household products, Younker said.

As a result, she closed the bridal shop today.

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