Texas Nurse Nina Pham Receives a Blood Transfusion from Survivor Dr. Kent Brantly

The Texan nurse diagnosed with Ebola has received a blood transfusion from survivor Dr. Kent Brantly.

It is the third time Dr. Brantly has donated blood to an Ebola victim after medics discovered he had the same blood type as previous patient Dr. Nick Sacra and NBC cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, who is still being treated.

Incredibly, nurse Nina Pham, 26, has also matched with Dr. Brantly and on Monday received a transfusion of his blood in a move that doctors believe could save her life. 

Miss Pham has been in quarantine since Friday after catching the disease from 'patient zero' Thomas Eric Duncan - the man who brought the deadly virus to America. 

About 70 staff members at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital were involved in the care of Mr. Duncan after he was hospitalized, including the 26-year-old.

Brantly is believed to have traveled to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where Pham worked, to make the donation on Sunday night.

Miss Pham's condition was described as 'clinically stable' on Tuesday morning. She is believed to be in good spirits and had spoken to her mother via Skype. 

A second person who came in contact with the nurse is being monitored for Ebola symptoms in an isolation unit at Texas Presbyterian. He is reportedly Miss Pham's boyfriend according to Dallas News. 

The individual works at Alcon in Fort Worth, according to a staff email seen by CBS. 

Those who have survived Ebola have antibodies in their blood which can help new sufferers beat the disease.

Dr. Kent Brantly was flown back from Liberia to the U.S. after contracting Ebola during his missionary work for Samaritan's Purse.

He survived after receiving a dose of the experimental serum Z-Mapp and round-the-clock care at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. 

On September 10, Dr. Brantly donated blood to a fellow doctor, Dr. Rick Sacra, who also contracted Ebola during his work in West Africa and survived the disease.

Last Tuesday, he was on a road trip from Indiana to Texas when he received a call from Ashoka Mukpo's medical center in Nebraska telling him his blood type matched Mukpo’s. 

He also offered his blood to Thomas Eric Duncan but their blood types didn't match. 

Within minutes, he stopped off at the Community Blood Center in Kansas City, Missouri, and his donation was flown to Omaha.

Pham was diagnosed after admitting herself to hospital on Friday when her temperature spiked – one of the first symptoms of the deadly virus. 

A blood test confirmed she had the disease and she is now being treated in an isolation ward. 

The Emergency Room where she was admitted was cleared and decontaminated.

Nina Pham's uncle confirmed that she is the nurse who has contracted Ebola while treating patient zero Thomas Eric Duncan.

Jason Nguyen told MailOnline that "Nina has contracted Ebola, she is my niece. Her mother called me on Saturday and told me; 'Nina has caught Ebola."

"My sister is very upset, we all are. She said she was going up to the hospital in Dallas and I haven't heard from her since. I've tried to call but I can't get through. It's very shocking. I don't know any of the details, only what I hear on the news. It's frightening."

"Nina is very hard working. She is always up at the hospital in Dallas", he said.

HazChem teams spent the weekend fumigating her apartment in Dallas while health officials have ordered an investigation into how she contracted the disease.

Her beloved King Charles Spaniel Bentley will not be destroyed and is being quarantined, Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings has assured.

Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) Dr. Thomas Frieden has blamed a 'breach in protocol' of infection control lead Miss Pham to catch Ebola.

Mr. Duncan arrived in Texas from Liberia on September 20. He began showing symptoms of Ebola three days after his arrival and was admitted to Texas Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday 28. He died on Wednesday October 8. 

Presbyterian's chief clinical officer, Dr. Dan Varga, said all staff had followed CDC recommended precautions – 'gown, glove, mask and shield' – while treating Mr. Duncan.
And on Monday the CDC said that a critical moment may have come when Miss Pham took off her equipment. 

Ebola victims suffer chronic diarrhea and bleeding. But blood and feces from an Ebola patient are considered the most infectious bodily fluids.

Mr. Duncan also underwent two surgical procedures in a bid to keep him alive but which are particularly high-risk for transmitting the virus – kidney dialysis and incubation to help him to breathe – due to the spread of blood and saliva.

Nurses' leader Bonnie Castillo, has criticized the CDC for blaming the nurse for the spread of the disease.

Ms. Castillo, of the National Nurses United, said, "You don't scapegoat and blame when you have a disease outbreak. We have a system failure. That is what we have to correct."

In response to the criticism, Frieden clarified his comments to say that he did not mean it was an error on Miss Pham's part that led to the 'breach of protocol.'

The CDC said on Monday it has launched a wholesale review of the procedures and equipment used by healthcare workers. 

Dr. Frieden added that the case 'substantially' changes how medical staff approach the control of the virus, adding that: 'We have to rethink how we address Ebola control, because even a single infection is unacceptable.' 

Friends and well-wishers have paid tribute to Miss Pham and praised her as a big-hearted, compassionate nurse dedicated to caring for other.

Raised in a Vietnamese family in Fort Worth, she graduated from Texas Christian University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

She obtained her nursing license in August 2010 and recently qualified as a critical care nurse.

Hung Le, who is president and counselor at Our Lady of Fatima, said parishioners are uniting in prayer for Miss Pham.

He said, "our most important concern as a church is to help the family as they are coping with this. As a parish, we are praying for them."

"People are more worried for the family than for themselves, but some have questions because they don’t really understand what it is or how it is transmitted."

The World Health Organization on Monday called the Ebola outbreak "the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times."

It added that economic disruption can be curbed if people are educated so they don't make any irrational moves to dodge infection.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, citing World Bank figures, said 90 per cent of economic costs of any outbreak "come from irrational and disorganized efforts of the public to avoid infection."

"We are seeing, right now, how this virus can disrupt economies and societies around the world," and added "that adequately educating the public was a 'good defense strategy' and would allow governments to prevent economic disruptions."

Ebola screening of passengers arriving from three West African countries began at New York's JFK airport on Saturday.

Medical teams equipped with temperature guns and questionnaires are monitoring arrivals from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – countries at the centre of the Ebola outbreak.

Screening at Newark Liberty, Washington Dulles, Chicago O’Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta will begin later this week. 

58-Foot Dead Finback Whale Found on Long Island Beach

Shirley, New York - Authorities are investigating the death of 58-foot finback whale that washed ashore on an eastern Long Island beach.

Kimberly Durham of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation says the whale was spotted Thursday morning at Smith Point County Park beach in Shirley.

Durham says a forensic examination is being conducted to determine a cause of death. She says the whale shows signs of advanced decomposition, requiring an internal examination.

The foundation is working with county officials on how to dispose of the whale.

Durham says finback whales have been spotted off eastern Long Island frequently in recent months.

She says a dead leatherback turtle also was found nearby on Tuesday. The two discoveries appear unrelated.

The turtle was buried on the beach.

5 Ways to Advocate for Pit Bulls: October is Pit Bull Awareness Month

October: a great month if you ask me. An entire month dedicated to raising awareness for pit bulls. Also – Pit Bull Awareness Day is October 25th!

While this is no different really than any month around this household, it is a great opportunity to spotlight pit bulls by educating, promoting adoption, responsible ownership and much more.

October: a great month if you ask me. An entire month dedicated to raising awareness for pit bulls. Also – Pit Bull Awareness Day is October 25th!

While this is no different really than any month around this household, it is a great opportunity to spotlight pit bulls by educating,promoting adoption, responsible ownership and much more.

One of the things I’ve noticed which we inherit as a responsible pit bull owner: having to advocate for our dogs. We don’t necessarily choose it, but more or less fall into it. At one point or another, we will be presented with a situation where we have to stand up for our dog. Even though, as fellow pit bull owners know our dog is just a dog.

Here I’ve compiled five awesome, positive ways to advocate for pit bulls:

To read more on this story, click here: 5 Ways to Advocate for Pit Bulls

Venus the Two-Faced Cat a Mystery: Famous Feline May Have Different DNA on Each Side of Her Body

The three-year-old tortoiseshell has her own Facebook page and a YouTube video that's been viewed over a million times, and appeared on the Today Show.

One look at this cat and you can understand why: One half is solid black with a green eye—the other half has typical orange tabby stripes and a blue eye.

How does a cat end up looking like that? Leslie Lyons, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who studies the genetics of domestic cats said she's never seen a cat exactly like Venus.

"She is extremely, extremely rare," Lyons said. "But you can explain it and you can understand it."

Is Venus a Chimera?

Many reports about Venus refer to the cat as a "chimera." In mythology, a chimera is a mishmash monster made up of parts of different animals. A feline chimera is a cat whose cells contain two types of DNA, caused when two embryos fuse together.

Among cats, "chimeras are really not all that rare," Lyons said. In fact, most male tortoiseshell cats are chimeras. The distinctively mottled orange and black coat is a sign that the cat has an extra X chromosome.

But female cats, said Lyons, already have two X chromosomes so they can sport that coat without the extra X. That means Venus is not necessarily a chimera.

To find out would require generic testing, said Lyons. With samples of skin from each side of the cat, "we can do a DNA fingerprint—just like on CSI—and the DNA from one side of the body should be different than the other."

If Venus isn't actually a chimera, then what would explain her amazing face?

"Absolute luck," Lyons said. One theory: perhaps the black coloration was randomly activated in all the cells on one side of her face, while the orange coloration was activated on the other, and the two patches met at the midline of her body as she developed.

Cat fanciers who are transfixed by Venus's split face may be missing the real story: her single blue eye. Cat eyes are typically green or yellow, not blue.  A blue-eyed cat is typically a Siamese or else a cat with "a lot of white on them," she explained.

Venus appears to have only a white patch on her chest, which to Lyons is not enough to explain the blue eye.

"She is a bit of a mystery."

What Do You Think? Are Airlines Treating Pets Better Than Human Passengers?

Some airline passengers are more equal than others, as Michael Morris found out when his daughter and 2-month-old granddaughter visited him from Los Angeles this summer.

On their first flight on Sun Country Airlines, they shared the cabin with two small dogs. “My daughter suffers from pet allergies,” says Morris, who lives in Minneapolis. “As you can guess, she had an allergic reaction.”

It happened again on the trip home.

“Across from her, the same passenger with her dog were also returning to L.A.,” Morris remembers. “My daughter told the flight attendant about her allergies, and they moved my daughter to a seat in the very back row.”

Morris wants to know — and so do other passengers who contact me regularly — who should be moving: the pet or the passenger?

Fortunately, human-animal conflicts on planes appear to be relatively rare. The DOT recorded only 22 complaints about pets on aircraft in 2013, and so far this year, it has received 18. Grievances about service animals used by passengers with disabilities are also minuscule — a total of 35 to date, compared with 45 last year, according to the department.

Airlines are concerned about the welfare of passengers who suffer from allergies. For example, Delta Air Lines in 2012 adopted a new policy for passengers with peanut allergies, and, when notified of an allergic passenger, will refrain from serving peanuts and peanut products aboard the flight.

But pet allergies are more complicated. Pets generate sizable revenue for airlines in the form of extra fees and are unlikely to be removed from a flight just because another passenger complains. What’s more, the Transportation Department requires that they allow service animals on flights.

“Carriers should do their best to accommodate other passengers’ concerns by steps like seating passengers with service animals and passengers who are uncomfortable with service animals away from one another,” it says in a 2009 rule on nondiscrimination and air travel.

A closer look at the federal regulation reveals one or two loopholes that could come to the rescue of passengers like Morris’s daughter. First, there’s no requirement that all pets be allowed in the cabin, only service animals, although many airlines allow pets small enough to fit in a carrier under the seat. Airlines must accept service animals in the cabin as long as they don’t “pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others” or cause a “significant” disruption in cabin service. The DOT lists as examples an animal that would display threatening behavior, such as “growling, snarling, lunging at or attempting to bite other persons on the aircraft.”

The small dogs on the Sun Country flight might have qualified as “emotional-support” animals, a type of service animal. Sun Country did not respond to several requests for comment, but its policy on these four-legged passengers is available on its Web site.

Specific to what it calls “psychiatric-assist and emotional-support animals,” as permitted by DOT rules, the airline requires a letter from a licensed mental health professional or medical doctor specifically treating the passenger’s disability. The letter must also be dated and have been written within a year, and the disorder must be recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition.

The government draws no distinction between a service animal — which is identified by the presence of harnesses, tags or the credible verbal assurances of a qualified individual with a disability using the animal — and one used for emotional support. But passengers do. An incident in October 2000, in which a 300-pound potbellied Vietnamese pig used by a first-class passenger for emotional support reportedly ran amok on a US Airways flight, drew something of a line. An FAA investigation cleared the pig’s owner and the airline of any wrongdoing, but US Airways reportedly vowed to never allow a pig to fly in the passenger cabin again.

Passengers are understandably skeptical of these special designations. “I’m not allergic myself but am of the opinion that there is a time and place for pets, and people are really pushing those limits,” says Scott Hassel, a San Francisco marketing executive. “I love animals, but they don’t need to be inserted into everyone else’s lives. I see people bringing pets on airplanes, trains, into grocery stores and restaurants. No one has any consideration for those around them anymore. Just another symptom of the ‘me, me, me’ culture we live in.”

Unfortunately for allergy sufferers, it usually doesn’t matter why the animal is in the cabin. Chances are, unless it’s growling, hissing or biting other passengers, it’s staying on board. That means allergy sufferers must take sensible precautions. Calling the airline before your flight to let it know about your allergy is a good first step, although it won’t guarantee a pet-free flight. Carrying an EpiPen or allergy medication is a must, particularly when you’re in an enclosed cabin.

A DOT insider noted that if a passenger’s allergy is severe enough to substantially limit a major life activity, that would meet the definition of a disability, and under the rules, the airline must make a “reasonable accommodation,” which could mean moving the animal. That’s an argument you should make long before your flight by calling the airline’s special services desk.

One of the best ways to avoid an allergic reaction to a pet or service animal is to do what Morris’s daughter did on her return flight, and ask to be moved. That’s what Debi Rivkin, an accountant from Las Vegas, does when she travels by plane. “I’m allergic to most dogs,” she says. “I once was seated next to someone who had a dog with them, and I simply asked to be reseated. It was no issue.”

If the airline won’t act, ask a passenger for help. Anne Nelson, a government researcher from Chevy Chase, Md., did that when she found herself sneezing uncontrollably on a recent flight from Atlanta to Washington. The culprit? A long-haired cat under her seat.

“The plane was full, and there was no place to move me,” she remembers. “But a nearby passenger saw my predicament and offered to switch seats.”

If your pet allergies are severe, you’ll want to have the proper documentation on hand. “Get a doctor’s note about the pet allergy to avoid change fees,” says Victoria Day, a spokeswoman for Airlines for America, an airline trade group.

When it comes to the conflict between pets and allergy sufferers, pets and their owners seem to have a little edge. Day suggests complaining to the Transportation Department, which could prompt it to review its rules on pets and service animals in the future. But probably not in time for your next flight.

Dallas Ebola Patient's Dog Will Not Be Euthanized

Dallas, Texas - The health worker who tested positive for Ebola has a dog, but the mayor of Dallas says unlike in a recent Spanish case, the dog will be kept safe for eventual reunion with its owner.

Mayor Mike Rawlings told USA Today that the dog remained in the health worker's apartment when she was hospitalized and will soon be shipped to a new location to await its owner's recovering.

There are no plans to euthanize the dog, he said.

"This was a new twist," Rawlings said. "The dog's very important to the patient and we want it to be safe."

There were no immediate details on the name or type of dog.

Brad Smith, of CG Environmental, will lead the effort to decontaminate the patient's East Dallas apartment. He said he has been alerted that the patient's dog is still inside and will work with members of the local SPCA branch and Dallas animal control officials to help remove it from the apartment.

"We'll assist with that," Smith said. "We have the [personal protection equipment] that needs to be worn."

In Spain, the Madrid regional government said last Wednesday that it had euthanized Excalibur, the pet of the Spanish worker being treated. It was sedated to avoid suffering and after death its corpse was "put into a sealed biosecurity device and transferred for incineration at an authorized disposal facility," according to a statement from the Madrid government, Associated Press reported.

Spanish officials said the dog was killed because it posed a risk of transmitting the disease to humans. There is no documented case of Ebola spreading to people from dogs. But at least one major study suggests dogs can get the disease without showing symptoms. Experts say they are uncertain of what risk that poses to humans.

These Frogs Might Be Evolving Right In Front Of Us

Scientists believe that the mimic frog, which is dividing into two increasingly distinct populations in Peru, may be on its way to speciation -- a division into multiple species.

Ranitomeya imitator is a poison dart frog that mimics one of two other poison species. One has yellow and black stripes on its body and blue spotted legs, and the other has an orange head that fades to blue legs, with black spots all over.

In an August Nature Communications study, researchers reported that these frogs might be the first vertebrates ever observed splitting into two species because of distinct mimicry. Only one other animal of any kind (a butterfly) has been observed doing the same, National Geographic reported.

The "striped" mimic frog is adapting to look like the species variabilis. (Evan Twomey)

Experiments confirmed that the frog populations are already wary of interbreeding with one another. This preference could lead to speciation within the next several thousand years, study co-author Kyle Summers, an evolutionary biologist at East Carolina University in Greenville, told National Geographic. The preference "suggests there has been some sort of negative consequence of breeding with the wrong morph," he said.

These distinct colorings serve as giant "keep away" signs for predators, especially when they're used by multiple species of poison frog. It's possible that the mixing of two types leads to offspring that look like neither, making predators more likely to take a bite.

It's not for certain that the color mimicry itself is what's driving the schism. Scientists would have to make sure that other differences -- like calls -- didn't exist to help pull them apart.

The "veradero" mimic frogs are taking a different approach. (Evan Twomey)


"The mate choice trials we conducted were done using actual frogs, so it is possible that the mating preference was based on some other, less obvious cue," said Evan Twomey, lead author of the study and a PhD student in Summers's lab. "It would be very interesting to follow up this study with an experiment to determine if color alone is responsible for the mating preferences we observed."

But if these frogs continue to show such a strong preference for one half of their species over the other, then more and more differences will arise between the populations as generations pass. And eventually, they may not be interested in mingling at all.

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Child Stable After Fall Into Jaguar Exhibit At Zoo

Little Rock, Ark. — A 3-year-old who fell into the jaguar exhibit at the Little Rock Zoo was in stable condition Saturday and "is expected to improve," officials say.

The boy was being treated at Arkansas Children's Hospital for extensive scalp lacerations, a depressed skull fracture, and minor puncture wounds.

Lt. Sidney Allen of the Little Rock Police Department said Friday it was not known whether the puncture wounds came from the fall or one of the animals in the exhibit. Doctors said the wounds were not life-threatening.

Officials did not release the name of the child.

"We respect the wishes of the child's guardian who asked that the child's name and any additional information not be shared at this time," hospital spokesman Dan McFadden said.

According to the police report, the child fell approximately 15-16 feet into a cat exhibit at the zoo Friday morning.

A primate zookeeper who called emergency services told police that she saw one of the jaguars with its mouth around the little boy's neck.

The child's father told police that he ran to get help and returned to throw items at the cats to keep them at bay — one ran off and didn't return while other circled back and reportedly bit the child on the back of the neck. The report indicated that the father threw something else at the cat and got it to release the child.

Shortly afterward, more zoo workers arrived. The report says that one worker arrived with a fire extinguisher to keep the animals away while another climbed into the exhibit with a ladder to get the child out.

According to Captain Weaver with the Little Rock Fire Department, the boy was reportedly out of the enclosure by the time the fire department arrived.

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