Second Health Worker with Ebola Was on Flight

NEW YORK — Health officials are alerting airline passengers who were on the same flight as a Texas nurse who was diagnosed with Ebola the next day.

The 132 passengers were on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 from Cleveland to Dallas-Fort Worth on Monday.

The health worker has been identified as Amber Vinson, a 29-year-old nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, one of her relatives said on Wednesday.

The infected health worker flew from her family's home in Ohio to Dallas one day before developing signs of the infection, prompting health officials to try to contact all 132 passengers who were aboard the flight, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Infected Ebola patients are not considered contagious until they have symptoms. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking the passengers to call the health agency so they can be monitored.

The flight landed in Dallas at 8:16 p.m. Monday, stayed there overnight, and underwent a thorough cleaning before returning to service the next day. The cleaning was consistent with CDC guidelines, according to a Frontier Airlines statement released by CDC officials.

The health worker had flown to Cleveland on Friday. Health officials did not immediately release the reason for her trip or where she visited in the Cleveland area. CDC notified the airline Wednesday morning.

The CDC is asking passengers on the Monday flight to call 1-800-CDC INFO (1-800-232-4636).

Vinson's mother was in Dallas to be near her daughter, who is in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where she worked.

"Her mother flew to Dallas to be with her," Martha Shuler, the patient's grandmother, told Reuters by telephone from Akron, Ohio.

A check of public records by Reuters showed that Vinson lived at the apartment complex where hazardous materials crews went on Wednesday to decontaminate the home of the latest person infected with Ebola.