Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan dies in Texas
Oct 8, 2014, 3:21 PM | Updated: 3:51 pm
Thomas Eric Duncan, the Ebola patient hospitalized in Dallas, died Wednesday morning.
STATEMENT from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on the death of #Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan. pic.twitter.com/u0R02Ego78
— Jason Whitely (@JasonWhitely) October 8, 2014
Duncan was hospitalized after arriving from Liberia and was the first person to be diagnosed while in the United States. He arrived in Dallas Sept. 20 to visit family and had come into contact with possibly 50 people, including a handful of schoolchildren.
When he became ill, Duncan went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital’s emergency room Sept. 24 but was sent home with antibiotics. Duncan had told staff that he had been in West Africa.
He returned to the hospital a few days later, worse, and was admitted and placed in isolation.
A Phoenix man who identified himself as Duncan’s half-brother said Duncan had tested negative for the virus before making the trip, but had come into contact with an infected pregnant woman who died.
Liberia announced last week it would prosecute Duncan for lying on a health form about not having any contact with an infected person.
Neighbors at the apartment complex where Duncan had been staying were isolated in a private residence.
Everyone who potentially had contact with Duncan will be monitored for 21 days,
the normal incubation period for the disease.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
