"We have to rethink the way we address Ebola infection control," Thomas Frieden, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a news conference Monday.
The comments from the CDC's director came following the first known transmission of Ebola in the United States, when Nina Pham, 26, a nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, contracted the virus after treating a patient with Ebola.
NBC News posted the conference video online. During the conference, Dr. Frieden said since an exposure occurred, though it is unclear what the exposure was, infection control protocols and procedures need to be reexamined and improved.
CDC staff is already looking at ways to improve protocols. For example, they are now watching as people put on and take off personal protective equipment and retraining staff on PPE safety. They are also looking into if different types of PPE would be safer or easier for hospital workers to use.
CDC staff is also looking at using a spray on people when they come out of an isolation unit that would kill the virus.
"We will continue to look... [at] how can we make care easier and safer," he said.