UPDATE 1-More than 80 people had direct or indirect contact with Ebola patient-Dallas

Thu Oct 2, 2014 10:29am EDT

Oct 2 (Reuters) - More than 80 people were exposed in some way to the patient infected with Ebola, a spokeswoman for Dallas County's public health department said on Thursday.

The department said 12 to 18 people came into direct contact with the Ebola patient and the rest came into contact with members of that group. They are all being monitored and no one has shown any symptoms, said Erikka Neroes, a spokeswoman for the Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services.

The Texas Department of State Health Services said separately it was working from a list of about 100 potential or possible contacts and will soon have an official contact tracing number that will be lower.

"Out of an abundance of caution, we're starting with this very wide net, including people who have had even brief encounters with the patient or the patient's home," said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman with the Texas Department of State Health Services. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Marice Richter; Editing by Doina Chicu)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0RX12O20141002