It appears
an act of compassion led Thomas Eric Duncan to contract Ebola, and
become the first patient diagnosed with the deadly disease on U.S. soil.
Just
four days before he boarded a plane bound for Dallas, Texas, Duncan
helped carry his landlord's convulsing pregnant daughter to a Liberian
clinic to be treated for Ebola, the New York Times reports.
The
woman, named by The Times as 19-year-old Marthalene Williams died the
next day, after being turned away from the overcrowded hospital that
didn't have room for her.
The landlord's son and three neighbors who came in contact with the woman also died soon afterwards.
But
Mr Duncan wasn't showing any symptoms when he arrived at a Monrovia
airport on September 19, and therefore was allowed on a flight out of
Liberia bound for the U.S.
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Patient zero: Thomas Eric Duncan, a
Liberian national who had traveled to the U.S. from Liberia on September
20 to visit family, has been quarantined at a Dallas hospital after
contracting Liberia. It was revealed that he helped carry an infected
pregnant woman to a hospital, just four days before boarding a flight
out of the Ebola-stricken country
Current
policy dictates that only those displaying symptoms of the disease are
barred from flying. But Ebola can hide in the system for up to 21 days,
raising serious concerns the disease will start turning up around the
world.
In
Liberia, Mr Duncan worked moving cargo for FedEx, but had recently quit
his job when he acquired a visa to visit the U.S. where his son
reportedly lives.
He
is one of an estimated 13,500 people from the Ebola hot-spot countries
of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia who currently hold visas to visit
the U.S. and could possibly spread the outbreak.
However,
that estimate takes into account all people from these West African
countries who are already in the U.S., and those who have been to
America and since returned home. It's still uncertain the exact number
of visas waiting to be used for travel to the U.S.
Free to fly: Mr Duncan left Monrovia,
Liberia on September 19. Because he wasn't displaying any symptoms of
the disease at the time, he was allowed on the flight. Monrovia's
Roberts International Airport pictured above on August 27
Sent home: Mr Duncan first admitted
himself to Texas Presbyterian Hospital last week when he started
displaying symptoms. But he was sent home from the hospital with
antibiotics, despite telling staff he recently arrived from Liberia. Mr
Duncan then spent the next four days in a highly-infectious state,
coming into contact with several family members
There
are now calls to restrict travel between affected countries and the
U.S., but the White House has deemed the move unecessary.
'It
would be reasonable [for the president] to designate Ebola as a
communicable disease of public health significance. That would enable
the State Department to impose tighter restrictions on visitors' from
these countries, Jessica Vaughan, policy director at the Center for
Immigration Studies told the. White
House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that there was no
change in airline policy since Ebola can only be spread when symptoms
are present, and that there are only policies in place to stop these
carriers from boarding flights
However,
the U.S. wouldn't be the first to institute a policy stopping travel
from these West African nations. Namibia, Kenya and Zambia have already
barred or restricted travel from these three Ebola-stricken countries,
and many airlines have stopped travel there as a precaution.
What's
perhaps the most frightening is the fact that Mr Duncan submitted
himself to the hospital when he first started feeling sick, and was
initially sent home with antibiotics even though he told hospital
workers that he had recently arrived from Liberia.
He
then spent four days getting sicker and sicker in a Dallas apartment,
coming in contact with several family members, before he went back to
the hospital and was finally diagnosed with Ebola.
Family: A man who gave his name only
as 'Joe' and stated he was the brother of Ebola patient Thomas Eric
Duncan talks to members of the media in front of a home in Kannapolis,
North Carolina on Wednesday
Contaminated: A security patrol car
cruises the parking lot outside of Building Six at the Ivy Apartments
where a Liberia man, who was infected with the deadly Ebola virus was
staying with family in North Dallas, Texas before being hospitalized. He
was staying at Apartment 614 (top center)
NO NEW TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS AFTER FIRST PATIENT WITH EBOLA DIAGNOSED IN U.S.
Business as usual: White House Press
Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed Wednesday that no new travel
restrictions have been put in place following the first patient
diagnosed with Ebola on U.S. soil
Despite
news of the first Ebola case inside the United States, there are no
travel restrictions from the White House, it has been reported.
Current
policy dictates that anyone showing symptoms of the disease in the
Ebola-stricken nations of Sierra Leona, Guinea and Liberia, be barred
from travelling.
But
patient Thomas Eric Duncan, from Liberia, was able to board a flight
out of Monrovia on September 19 because he wasn't looking sick at the
time.
It's unlikely he spread the disease while flying to the U.S., since patients are most infectious when they are showing symptoms.
Therefore, the U.S. hasn't yet changed policy towards travel from the Ebola hot-spot nations.
White
House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that there are
already containment methods in place to avoid a further outbreak.
'We've
provided guidance to pilots, flight attendants and others who are
responsible for staffing our transportation infrastructure to ensure
that if they notice individuals who are exhibiting symptoms ... that the
proper authorities are notified,' Earnest said.
'In
light of this incident, the administration has taken the step of
re-circulating our guidance ... to make sure people are aware there is
an important protocol that should be implemented,' he added.
His
sister Mai Wureh said her sick brother told officials the first time he
went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on September 26 that he was
visiting from a West African country in the so-called 'Ebola hot zone' -
but was sent home with antibiotics, a critically-missed opportunity to
prevent others being exposed to the disease.
Among those who came into contact with Mr Duncan are five children who attend four different schools in Dallas.
Officials
said on Wednesday that the students were in school this week after
possibly being in contact with the patient over the weekend when he had
become contagious with the deadly virus.
Dallas
Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles said on Wednesday
that the children who came in contact with Mr Duncan are showing no
symptoms and are now being monitored at home.
As
an added precaution, Miles says additional health and custodial staff
will be at the high, middle and two elementary schools that the students
attend.
The Star-Telegram reported that children from L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary School were taken out of school by concerned parents.
Mr
Duncan's family are among up to 18 people being monitored after
exposure to the man along with the ambulance crew who transported him to
the hospital.
As
health officials scrambled to contain the infection, Texas Governor
Rick Perry said at a hospital press conference on Wednesday that he had
'full confidence' in Texas medical teams when it came to the safety and
welfare of citizens, adding that only those who came in close contact
with the patient when he was contagious were at risk.
Family's anguish: Mr Duncan's sister, Mai Wureh, confirmed on Wednesday that her brother had been hospitalized with Ebola
Dr
Mark Lester also confirmed that a nurse asked Mr Duncan on his first
visit whether he had been in an area affected by the Ebola outbreak that
has killed thousands in West Africa but that the 'information was not
fully communicated throughout the whole team'.
The
patient is now in a 'serious but stable condition' and has been
quarantined since Sunday - although he was in the U.S. for almost a week
before being isolated.
He is 'awake, talking and asking for food', doctors said today.
The
Liberian government said on Wednesday that Mr Duncan showed no signs of
fever or symptoms of the virus when he left Liberia for the United
States on September 19.
The patient showed no symptoms of the disease during his journey - which also included a stop in Brussels, Belgium.
Hundreds
of passengers were exposed to Mr Duncan after it was revealed today
that the traveler took at least three flights to get from Liberia to
Dallas - because there is no direct flight from Belgium to Texas.
The
other flight that Mr Duncan boarded was reportedly Brussels Airlines
flight 1247, according to conservative news blog Got News, which was the
same flight pegged by the CBS local station in Dallas.
United
Airlines has said it thinks Mr Duncan flew from Brussels to Washington
Dulles on Flight 951 before he traveled from Washington Dulles to Dallas
Fort-Worth on Flight 822.
Belgium’s
health ministry said U.S. experts had advised Brussels that the man was
not displaying Ebola symptoms and so would not have been in a position
to pass on the virus. A spokesman said that Belgium therefore did not
need to trace fellow passengers or crew of Brussels Airlines, one of a
very few operators still flying to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Mr Duncan began to develop symptoms of Ebola on September 24, four days after arriving in the U.S.
He sought medical care on September 26 at Texas Presbyterian Hospital - where he was sent home.
U.S. EBOLA PATIENT CAME IN CONTACT WITH HUNDREDS DURING THREE FLIGHTS FROM LIBERIA TO TEXAS
United
Airlines has released two of the flight numbers for planes Ebola
patient Thomas Eric Duncan reportedly traveled on during his trip to the
US.
The
airline said in a Wednesday statement it believed Duncan was on board
both Flight 951 - from Brussels to Washington Dulles International
Airport - and Flight 822, which would have taken him from there to
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
CBS
DFW reported that after some digging, one of its news teams 'believes
there is a good chance the Ebola infected patient left Liberia on
Brussel Airlines flight 1247.'
Out of Africa:
The above map shows the reported flight plan Mr Duncan took from
Monrovia, Liberia all the way to Dallas, Texas where he eventually
started showing signs of Ebola last week
Conservative
news blog Gotnews.com published an email from someone claiming to work
for United Airlines, which allegedly details the man's trip and claimed
Duncan was on Brussels Airlines Flight 1247.
The alleged email also claims that Duncan planned to return to West Africa in approximately two weeks.
Currently,
patients are checked for fever - the first sign of a possible infection
- before they are allowed to board flights leaving West African
nations.
However,
once travelers gets past examiners in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea,
there are few barriers to them moving across the world.
U.S.
Customs and Border Protection says the agency's examiners at airports
and other ports of entry are trained to spot and identify people
potentially infected with Ebola before they enter the country.
Treatment: Mr Duncan, from Monrovia,
is the first person to develop symptoms of Ebola in the U.S. He is being
treated in isolation at a Texas hospital. However, he will not receive
experimental ZMapp which was used to treat U.S. missionary workers who
came down with the virus, since there is none of the miracle drug left
Don't panic: Texas Governor Rick Perry
sought to reassure citizens on Wednesday as it was revealed that five
children who came in close contact with the Ebola patient had attended
four different Dallas schools this week
On September 28, Mr Duncan was rushed to hospital in an ambulance while vomiting and was quarantined.
It
raised the frightening prospect that he was mixing freely with others
for a full four days while showing symptoms of the virus - the time when
Ebola is most contagious.
A
team of CDC 'disease detectives' arrived in Dallas on Wednesday and
were going door-to-door to find out who may have come in contact with
the man while he was contagious with Ebola.
Residents living in the same apartment block that is 'ground zero' for the Ebola outbreak in Dallas today spoke of their fears.
Despite
reassurances from health chiefs that the deadly virus has been
contained many residents are fearful that they might have been infected.
Sources
within the Dallas Fire Department said the man carrying the Ebola virus
was picked up by an ambulance from the Ivy Apartment complex in North
Dallas.
Mother-of-three,
Elizabeth Rayo, watched the victim being taken out of his flat and
pushed on a gurney into the back of an ambulance.
Deadly: Health workers in protective
gear remove the body of a woman suspected to have died from the Ebola
virus, near the area of Freeport in Monrovia, Liberia on Wednesday. Mr
Duncan reportedly helped carry his landlord's gravely-ill daughter to
hospital before boarding a plane to the U.S.
'I
could not see his face, but just saw the ambulance outside and he was
being loaded in,' she told MailOnline. 'I know he lives in the same
block as me, but I do not know his name.'
Ms
Rayo said the residents had no idea at the time that the victim had the
highly-contagious disease. She did not see any health officials at the
complex, which is mostly home to newly, arrived immigrants from Africa
and India.
'No one said anything to us. I only found out that this was the place when the media turned up,' she said.
The
29-year-old, who has lived at the Ivy Apartments for two years, said:
'Of course I am very worried. I have three children. If the man had
Ebola we should have been told. We should have been allowed to leave.'
There
was no sign of any CDC activity at the complex which is comprised of
apartments in two-story blocks set around a large car park. The managers
of the apartment complex evicted media saying it was private property.
A
manager, who identified herself as Sally, shouted at media to leave
claiming she has no idea the Ebola victim lived within the complex.
Two police cars arrived to escort media from the premises while traffic cones were placed across the entrance.
Several
residents spoken to by MailOnline were unaware that the Ebola victim
lived in the apartment complex which is home to more than 400 people.
Residents pay $800 a month for a two-bedroom apartment.
Other
local residents were concerned that the complex had not been placed
into quarantine. Mother Toni Gomez, who lives opposite the complex,
said: 'Yes, I am scared. Who wants to live next to somewhere where there
is such a horrible virus? I think the place should at least be sealed
off and no one allowed to go in and out.'
Ms
Gomez, who was clutching her one-year-old daughter Demaruia, added:
'I’m really concerned because I have to live here with my family.'
During
the afternoon a man in his 20s arrived at the apartment holding what
appeared to be a roll of black garbage bags and went in to the house,
suggesting the family are disposing of items which may have been
infected.
Two women in their 20s also visited the apartment for a short while.
At
one point a young boy aged around four could be seen peering through
the drawn blinds of the apartment that looked out onto the parking lot.
Dallas
County Health Department was forced to deny that a second male patient
was being closely monitored today after media reports.
Germs: The ambulance which carried
Thomas Eric Duncan suffering from Ebola has been cordoned off at Texas
Health Presbyterian Hospital in an effort to prevent the spread of Ebola
following the first diagnosis on U.S. soil
Worst outbreak in history: An epidemic
of the Ebola virus (seen here in a file photo) has killed more than
3,000 people in West Africa
The
ambulance crew who transported Mr Duncan all tested negative for Ebola
on Wednesday but have been placed in 'reverse isolation' at their homes
for the next 21 days as a precaution.
In America: Mr Duncan has been treated in quarantine since Sunday at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital
Ambulance 37 which transported him to the hospital has been cordoned off.
There
are concerns after it was used to move patients for two days after the
Ebola patient but hospital officials have reassured citizens that it was
properly sterilized.
The
man arrived in the U.S. on September 20 from the West African region,
where the disease has been rapidly spreading since its outbreak last
December.
While
en route to the U.S., Mr Duncan also traveled through Brussels in
Belgium, the Liberian Ministry of Information confirmed today.
There
is believed to be no risk to anyone who traveled on the same flight
from Liberia because he did not have any symptoms at the time. The virus
is not contagious until symptoms develop and is then transmitted via
bodily fluids.
Health
officials are investigating the misdiagnosis and why the patient's
isolation was delayed despite his symptoms and his travel history.
A source told CNN that no one had asked Mr Duncan if he had recently traveled.
The
CDC recommends that all medical facilities ask patients who present
themselves with Ebola symptoms about countries they have visited.
The
patient was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas and
isolated on September 28, according to Centers for Disease Control
Director Tom Frieden.
Mr Duncan is reportedly not being treated with the experimental serum ZMapp - because there is none left.
How it spreads: Ebola is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread
Mr Duncan is not believed to have gone to any other hospitals in the area.
President Obama is aware of the patient's Ebola diagnosis and the public health investigation, the White House said.
Dr Frieden said he believed the case also marked the first time this strain of Ebola has been diagnosed outside of West Africa.
Mr
Duncan is being kept in isolation and the hospital is following Centers
for Disease Control recommendations to keep doctors, staff and patients
safe.
Dr
Edward Goodman, epidemiologist for Texas Health Presbyterian, said the
hospital had a plan for handling Ebola should a suspected case emerge
and was 'well prepared' to provide care.
Dallas
Mayor Mike Rawlings told CBS DFW: 'We have quarantined both [the
ambulance crew that took the patient to the hospital] and the unit
itself to make sure that nothing was there that can be spread.'
He
added: 'First and foremost, we gotta have our thoughts and prayers for
this man, who is very sick and hopefully he'll get well. But we're gonna
make sure everybody else is safe at the same time.'
Specimens
from the patient were tested by a state lab and confirmed by a separate
test by the Centers for Disease Control, said Carrie Williams,
spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The hospital is reviewing why Mr Duncan was initially sent home with antibiotics.
Zachary
Thompson, director of Dallas County Health & Human Services, said
health officials in North Texas are well equipped to care for the
patient.
'This is not Africa,' he told Dallas station WFAA. 'We have a great infrastructure to deal with an outbreak.'
Twelve
other people in the U.S. have been tested for Ebola since July 27,
according to the CDC. All of those tests were negative.
Four
U.S. aid workers who became infected while volunteering in West Africa
have been treated in special isolation facilities in hospitals in
Atlanta and Nebraska.
A
U.S. doctor exposed to the virus in Sierra Leone is under observation
in a similar facility at the National Institutes of Health.
The
U.S. has only four such isolation units. But asked whether Mr Duncan
would be moved to one of those specialty facilities, Dr Frieden said
there was no need and virtually any hospital can provide the proper care
and infection control.
One
of the health workers who contracted Ebola, Samaritan's Purse Dr Kent
Brantly, testified to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
committee about prevention methods earlier this month, The National
Journal reported.
'Many have used the analogy of a fire burning out of control to describe this unprecedented Ebola outbreak,' Brantly said.
'Indeed
it is a fire - it is a fire straight from the pit of hell. We cannot
fool ourselves into thinking that the vast moat of the Atlantic Ocean
will protect us from the flames of this fire.
'Instead, we must mobilize the resources... to keep entire nations from being reduced to ashes.'
'We
are sorry to learn of the confirmed case of Ebola in Dallas,'
Samaritan's Purse president Bruce Johnson said in a statement on
Tuesday.
Suit up: A health worker in protective
suit carries equipment on October 1 Doctors Without Borders' Ebola
treatment center in Monrovia. Liberia has been hit the hardest by the
worst-ever outbreak of Ebola, which has killed more than 3,000 people in
west Africa
'This person did exactly the right thing – report to a hospital.'
He
added: 'I am grateful for what we have available in the U.S. We have
seen the success and survival rate of Americans cared for in a
well-equipped medical center. We need to help share this with the people
of West Africa.
'We
will be praying for the survival of this patient and that doctors will
continue to learn at a quickened pace what will help fight this epidemic
across West Africa.'
Ebola
symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can
appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus.
The
New York Times reported traveling medical workers are treated with
suspicion, and that they must also deal with 'a belief that simply
saying "Ebola" aloud makes the disease appear'.
Health
officials use two primary guidelines when deciding whether to test a
person for the virus - whether that person has traveled to West Africa
and whether he or she has been near friends or relatives or other people
who have been exposed to the virus, said CDC spokesman Jason McDonald.
Since
the summer months, U.S. health officials have been preparing for the
possibility that an individual traveler could unknowingly arrive with
the infection. Health authorities have advised hospitals on how to
prevent the virus from spreading within their facilities.
People
boarding planes in the outbreak zone are checked for fever, but that
does not guarantee that an infected person won't get through. Liberia is
one of the three hardest-hit countries in the epidemic, along with
Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The epidemic has killed more than 3,000 people in West Africa.
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