THE FIRST PERSON in the US to be infected with Ebola has died, according to a statement from the hospital where he was being treated.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas this afternoon released the following statement:
It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this morning at 7:51 a.m.
Mr. Duncan succumbed to an insidious disease, Ebola. He fought courageously in this battle.
Our professionals, the doctors and nurses in the unit, as well as the entire Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas community, are also grieving his passing. We have offered the family our support and condolences at this difficult time.
Duncan was infected with Ebola in Liberia, before flying to Texas to visit family on 20 September.
He didn’t show symptoms until four days later, and went to a local hospital on the 26th.
Duncan was sent home, however, because the medical team “felt clinically it was a low-grade common viral disease,” said Mark Lester, executive vice president of Texas Health Resources.
He volunteered that he had traveled from Africa in response to the nurse operating the checklist and asking that question.
Regretfully, that information was not fully communicated throughout the full team.
Just yesterday, Duncan’s family were visited by civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, who held a prayer vigil outside the hospital where he was being treated.
On 28 September, he was brought in an ambulance to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in the city of Dallas, where he remained in isolation until his death this afternoon.
Others in Dallas still are being monitored as health officials try to contain the virus that has ravaged West Africa, with more than 3,400 people reported dead.
They are trying to ease anxiety among residents frightened of contracting Ebola, though the disease can be spread only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an already sick person.
Health officials have identified 10 people, including seven health workers, who had direct contact with Duncan while he was contagious.
Another 38 people also may have come into contact with him.
The four people living in the northeast Dallas apartment where Duncan stayed have been isolated in a private residence.
Contains reporting from the Associated Press.
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