Illinois health department plans Ebola hotline

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois health officials plan to launch a hotline to answer the public's questions about Ebola.

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced the plan Wednesday. Department Director Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck says the hotline will be operating by later this week.

Hasbrouck says he wants to reassure Illinois residents after Wednesday's news that a second Dallas hospital employee has tested positive for Ebola. Hasbrouck says the Illinois health department is working closely with hospitals and local health departments "to provide guidance to quickly identify any potential cases of Ebola and contain any possible spread."

The second Dallas hospital worker testing positive for the disease provided care for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S. It's not clear how the second worker contracted the virus.