Ebola Patient in Dallas is a Liberian National Named Thomas Eric Duncan; He Had Taken Dying Ebola Patient to the Hospital in Liberia, and Thus Knew He was at Extremely High Risk of being Infected, but Responded with Reckless Disregard for Others; Duncan wasn’t “Visiting”; He’d Come to Stay; Thousands of Dallas Schoolchildren at Risk, Due to Contact with Duncan

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix
 

Schoolchildren exposed in US Ebola scare: Texas governor Rick Perry reveals fears for kids and says 18 Americans may have virus after hospital sent infected man home

Five students attended four different Dallas schools this week after possibly being in close contact with the Ebola patient over the weekend

The Ebola patient was named today as Thomas Eric Duncan, who had traveled to the U.S. from Liberia on September 20 to visit family

Mr Duncan, a Liberian national, quarantined at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital since Sunday

The children who came in contact with Mr Duncan are showing no symptoms and are now being monitored at home

The schools are on high alert with additional health and custodia staff as an added precaution

Mr Duncan arrived in U.S. on September 20 - after flying from Liberia via Brussels in Belgium - but did not develop symptoms until September 24

He attended Texas Health Presbyterian on September 26 - but was dismissed with antibiotics and 'not asked details about his travel history'

Mr Duncan may have contracted Ebola while helping carrying his landlord's seriously ill daughter to hospital in Liberia. She died the next day
 

By Dan Bates and Paul Thompson in Dallas, Texas and Louise Boyle and Zoe Szathmary
Published: 16:09 EST, 30 September 2014 | Updated: 20:04 EST, 1 October 2014
Mail Online

Schoolchildren in Texas may be at risk from Ebola today after five children who attend four different Dallas schools came in close contact with the first patient diagnosed with the deadly virus on U.S. soil.

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.

The Ebola patient was named today as Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national who had traveled to the U.S. from Liberia on September 20 to visit family.

His sister Mai Wureh said her sick brother told officials the first time he went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital that he was visiting from the West African country in the so-called 'Ebola hot zone' - before he was sent home with antibiotics, a critically missed opportunity to prevent others being exposed to the disease.

Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles said on Wednesday 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 the students attend.

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 hospital.
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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

Ebola patient had contact with school children - Gov Perry


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.

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'.

Mr Duncan underwent basic blood tests but not an Ebola screening.

Mr Duncan 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.

According to The New York Times, Mr Duncan worked for shipping company in the Liberian capital Monrovia but had recently quit his job and gotten a visa to come to the U.S.

The TImes also revealed that Mr Duncan may contracted Ebola while helping carrying his landlord's seriously ill daughter to hospital. She passed away from the virus the following day. The landlord's son and two neighbors who came in contact with the woman also died.



The Ivy Apartments in North Dallas, Texas where Mr Duncan was staying with his sister and several young children before he was rushed away in an ambulance on September 28


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

Crew who transported Ebola patient restricted to homes



The Liberian government said on Wednesday that the man showed no signs of fever or symptoms of the virus when he left Liberia for the United States via Brussels on September 19.

The patient showed no symptoms of the disease during his journey - which also included a stop en route in Brussels, Belgium.

Belgium’s health ministry said U.S. experts had advised Brussels that the man was indeed not displaying 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 Brussel 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.

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.



Mr Duncan, who traveled to the U.S. from Liberia last month, has been quarantined at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas (pictured) in critical condition with the Ebola virus, health officials said on Tuesday

Texas Hospital confirm they are treating Ebola patient

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.

The Ebola patient is thought to live in a ground floor flat at the complex with his family.

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.

'I could not see his face, but just saw the ambulance outside and he was being loaded in,' she told Mail Online. 'I know he lives in the same block as me, but I do not know his name.'

TIMELINE OF EBOLA DIAGNOSIS
September 19 - Man boards flight in Liberia
September 20 - Man lands in Dallas
September 24 - Man starts to develop symptoms
September 26 - Man goes to hospital but is sent home with antibiotics
September 28 - Man placed in isolation in Dallas hospital
September 30 - Man's blood tests positive for Ebola

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.

[Why would an apartment complex be “home to newly arrived immigrants from Africa and India”? they must be refugee-grifters that we’re paying for.]

'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 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. [Hundreds of Indians and Africans just randomly leased apartments there.]

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.

UN's Ban Ki-moon calls for unity to tackle Ebola crisis




Health workers in protective suits at Island Hospital in Monrovia on September 30. Liberia has been hit the hardest by the worst ever outbreak of Ebola, which has killed more than 3,000 people in West Africa

Dallas County Health Department was forced to deny that a second male patient was being closely monitored today after media reports.

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.

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 with Ebola symptoms about countries they have visited.

Community leaders are also assisting medical professionals in the hunt for those who need to be tested while trying to quell panic in the local Dallas community.
Stanley Gaye, president of the Liberian Community Association of Dallas-Fort Worth, told MailOnline on Wednesday that he believed Mr Duncan was in his 50s.

He understood that the man had been visiting his wife or fiancée and the house he had been staying had a lot of children living there.

Mr Gaye said at a community meeting on Tuesday: 'We've been telling people to try to stay away from social gatherings.

'We need to know who it is so that they (family members) can all go get tested. If they are aware, they should let us know. We are very concerned about it'.

Alben Tarty, spokesman for the association, said he was keen to avoid a panic but that he wanted anyone infected to come forward. Mr Tarty said: 'It's scary for them'.



The total number of deaths from the Ebola virus in West Africa, using data collected by September 23

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.

AMBULANCE CREW WHO TRANSPORTED EBOLA PATIENT FACE NERVOUS WAIT IN ISOLATION

The ambulance crew who transported Ebola-stricken Thomas Eric Duncan have tested negative for the virus, it was reported today, but will be placed in isolation for three weeks as a precaution.

The three individuals have been sent home in 'reverse isolation' for 21 days - the full length of time in which symptoms can appear.

Ebola sufferers usually show symptoms in eight to ten days.

They must report their temperatures daily and any changes in health to the CDC, Fox reported. If they develop a fever or any other symptoms, they will be immediately quarantined.

Their family and friends are also being monitored.

Dallas Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief Norman Seals told Fox that his crew's 'quick-thinking' meant that precautions like gloves and masks were immediately put in place when they recognized the man's symptoms and found out his travel history.
The ambulance used by the Fire Station 37 crew has also been cordoned off - but there are concerns because it was used for two days after the patient was transported but before Ebola was confirmed.

Dr Frieden said there was no risk to anyone on the airplane because the patient had no symptoms at the time of the flight.

It is not clear how the patient became infected. [Where’s the copyeditor or re-write man? The story already said that Duncan almost certainly got it from his landlord’s dying daughter.]


'From the information that we have now, it does not appear the individual was involved in the response to Ebola, but that's something we'll investigate more,' he said on Tuesday.

Asked how many people the patient may have had close contact with, the CDC Director said: 'I think a handful is the right characterization.'

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.'


An ambulance pulls into the Dallas Fire-Rescue station 37 today. Three crew have been isolated after they came in contact with the first Ebola patient to be diagnosed on U.S. soil. They have tested negative but every precaution is being taken

First case of Ebola in the US confirmed by CDC





The CDC has indicated which portions of West Africa where Ebola is being transmitted between people


CDC Director Tom Frieden said the male patient took a plane from Liberia to the U.S. on September 19 and was admitted to hospital on September 28

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 sure everybody else is safe at the same time.'

The patient's symptoms and recent travel indicated a case of Ebola.

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.

HOW THE U.S. WOKE UP TO VIRUS THREAT: THE AMERICANS WITH EBOLA

Though the nationality of the man being treated in Dallas, Texas has not been publicly disclosed, four Americans made headlines after they came into contact with the Ebola virus in West Africa.

Three of those individuals became sick, but have since been released from the hospital.

Dr Kent Brantly


Dr Kent Brantly, a doctor with Samaritan's Purse in Libera, contracted Ebola while treating patients in West Africa. He is pictured being released from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia on August 21 after being cleared of the disease

Brantly wrote in a Time magazine column that he and his family moved to Liberia, where he contracted the Ebola virus in July.
The Samaritan's Purse doctor was transported to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia and survived. He was treated with the experimental ZMapp serum.

Nancy Writebol


Nancy Writebol, a missionary colleague of Dr Brantly, was diagnosed with Ebola at the same time and flown to Emory. She is pictured on September 3 following her recovery. Like Dr Brantly, she was also treated with an experimental serum, called ZMapp

A missionary for SIM and Brantly's colleague who helped decontaminate medical staff treating Ebola patients, Mrs Writebol developed the Ebola virus in Liberia in July.

She, too, was transported to Emory University Hospital and survived. She was similarly treated with the experimental serum.

Dr Rick Sacra


Dr Rick Sacra was treated at Nebraska Medical Center in the isolation unit after contracting Ebola in Libera. He is pictured at a September 26 press conference following his recovery

Sacra was in Liberia with Samaritan's Purse when he became sick with Ebola.
He was flown to Nebraska Medical Center, and Brantly provided blood transfusions to help him. Dr Sacra has since been cleared of the disease and released from hospital.

Possible fourth patient

The identity of the exposed American has not been publicly listed. The National Institutes of Health said 'The patient is an American physician who was volunteering services in an Ebola treatment in Sierra Leone' and is inside the NIH Clinical Center.


An epidemic of the Ebola virus (seen here in a file photo) has killed more than 3,000 people in West Africa



Caution: Ebola is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread
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.

WHAT IS THE EBOLA VIRUS?

The CDC says 'Ebola was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo'

Four types of Ebola can make people sick, the agency says

Ebola symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus

Ebola is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread

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

People boarding planes in the outbreak zone are checked for fever, but that does not guarantee that an infected person won't get through

Source: cdc.gov/Includes AP text

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.'

Just one day before the Dallas Ebola case was publicly confirmed, Bill Gates said at a breakfast meeting that countries should get ready to handle a possible outbreak of the deadly virus as people from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea move across borders.

'Because of that uncertainty, I am not going to hazard a guess,' Gates said when asked whether he thinks the massive ramping up of international aid over the past few weeks is enough.

'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.

'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.

Ebola is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread.

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.

BILL GATES: 'EBOLA COULD SPREAD BEYOND WEST AFRICA'

Billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates has warned that countries should get ready to handle a possible outbreak of Ebola in case it spreads further as people from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea travel across borders.

'Because of that uncertainty, I am not going to hazard a guess,' Gates said after being asked whether he thinks the massive ramping up of international aid over the past few weeks is enough.

The World Bank has started working with countries on developing plans should the highly infectious disease spread.



The lesson so far is that countries with strong primary healthcare systems already in place are well positioned to halt the march of Ebola, as Nigeria and Senegal have demonstrated in their quick response to cases there, Gates said.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funneled extra money in July and August towards Nigeria and pledged an additional $50million on September 10 to fight the epidemic, which so far has infected over 6,000 people mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The World Health Organization warns the infection rate probably is three times that number and could reach 20,000 by November. The death rate is over 50 per cent.

The lesson so far is that countries with strong primary healthcare systems already in place are well positioned to halt the march of Ebola, as Nigeria and Senegal have demonstrated in their quick response to cases there, Gates said.

To contain the epidemic, the United States on September 16 announced the deployment of 3,000 military engineers and medical personnel to build 17 treatment clinics and train healthcare workers, mostly in Liberia, at a cost of about $1billion.

The United Kingdom and France also are increasing their assistance and the United Nations has stepped forward to coordinate the international effort.

The Gates Foundation has deep expertise in fighting infectious diseases, especially malaria, HIV/Aids, polio and tuberculosis, and has invested billions of dollars in developing countries over the past decade.

Building a healthcare structure in the three countries worst hit by Ebola is critical, otherwise deaths from preventable diseases will quickly outpace those from Ebola, Gates said.

If mothers are afraid to get professional assistance in delivering their babies for fear of contracting Ebola and children cannot get malaria treatments, the long-term impact of the epidemic will be far more damaging, he said.

'That will be very tragic, and it won't get the type of attention that Ebola is getting,' Gates said.

He estimated that it will take 20 years of donor investment in some African countries to build resilient healthcare systems able to control preventable diseases and manage health crises.