UPDATE: Second US Ebola patient identified

Ebola infected nurse Amber Joy Vinson flew on a domestic aeroplane a day before her diagnosis, and health authorities say they are seeking to interview 132 people on that flight.

The US Centres for Disease Control yesterday said that Ms. Vinson "exhibited no signs or symptoms of illness while on flight 1143, according to the crew", but the agency wants to speak with passengers anyway to determine if anyone is at risk.

"Because of the proximity in time between the evening flight and first report of illness the following morning, CDC is reaching out to passengers who flew on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth October 13," the CDC said in a statement.

The latest development has forced President Barack Obama to set aside a campaign trip to lead a meeting at the White House on the US government's response to the outbreak, a spokesman said.

Ebola is transmitted by close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.

It is not contagious until a patient begins to show symptoms such as fever, aches, vomiting or diarrhoea.

The second case of US transmission of Ebola was announced by Dallas officials yesterday, and follows the diagnosis on Sunday of nurse Nina Pham.

Both health care workers were infected while caring for a Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, who was infected in West Africa and diagnosed in Texas where he had flown to visit family.