US monitors health worker on ship over Ebola fear
A health care worker who handled a lab specimen from an Ebola-infected man from Liberia who died of the disease is on a Caribbean cruise ship where she has self-quarantined and is being monitored for signs of infection.
US State Department spokeswoman said the woman had shown no signs of the disease and has been asymptomatic for 19 days.
The government is working to return the woman and her husband to the US before the ship completes its cruise. The White House said the State Department was working to secure their transportation home.
A White House official said the cruise ship had stopped in Belize but officials there would not allow the passenger to leave the vessel.
When the woman left the US on the cruise ship from Galveston, Texas, on October 12, health officials required only self-monitoring.
It is believed the woman poses no risk but healthcare authorities want to get her off the cruise ship and back to the United States out of caution.
There have been no restrictions placed on other passengers aboard the ship.
A statement from the Belize government said: ``Out of an abundance of caution, the government of Belize decided not to facilitate a US request for assistance in evacuating the passenger through the Philip Goldson International Airport.''
