(CNN) — A health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has tested positive for Ebola after a preliminary test, the state’s health agency said in a statement.
Confirmatory testing will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
The employee helped care for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. Duncan died on Wednesday.
“We knew a second case could be a reality, and we’ve been preparing for this possibility,” Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, said in a statement Sunday morning.
“We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread.”
If confirmed by the CDC, the health care worker’s case would mark the second diagnosis of Ebola ever in the United States.
Globally, the disease has wrought catastrophic consequences.
The World Health Organization estimates more than 8,300 have contracted Ebola during the current outbreak. Of those, more than 4,000 people have died.
Three countries — Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia — have been hardest hit.
