1st Ebola patient diagnosed in the US has died

DALLAS — The first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States died in the morning (evening, Singapore time) in a Dallas hospital yesterday (Oct 8), a hospital spokesman said.

Mr Thomas Eric Duncan was pronounced dead at 7.51am (8.51pm SGT) at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where he was admitted on Sept 28 and has been kept in isolation, according to spokesman Wendell Watson.

Mr Duncan’s condition was changed on Saturday from serious to critical. He carried the deadly virus with him from his home in Liberia, though he showed no signs when he left for the United States. He arrived in Dallas on Sept 20 and fell sick a few days later.

Others in Dallas are still being monitored as health officials try to contain the virus that has ravaged West Africa, with more than 3,400 people reported dead. They also trying to tamp down 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 Mr Duncan while he was contagious. Another 38 people also may have come into contact with him.

The four people living in the north-east Dallas apartment where Mr Duncan stayed have been isolated in a private residence.

Everyone who potentially had contact with Mr Duncan will be monitored for 21 days, the normal incubation period for the disease

Mr Duncan passed an airport health screening in Liberia, where doctors took his temperature and found no other signs of Ebola symptoms. But a few days after he arrived, he began to have a fever, headache and abdominal pain.

He went to the emergency room of Texas Health Presbyterian in Dallas on Sept 24, but was sent home. By Sept 27, his condition had worsened. An ambulance that day took him back to the hospital, where he stayed in isolation.

The hospital has changed its explanation several times about when Mr Duncan arrived and what he said about his travel history. It has acknowledged that Duncan told them on his first visit that he came from West Africa. AP