First Ebola Case in U.S. Sparks Massive Heath Initiative
October 2, 2014
Texas health officials are checking as many as 100 people for exposure to Ebola. They include all “potential or possible contacts” with Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas on September 30. His is the first case diagnosed outside of West Africa, where more than 3,300 people have died in the current Ebola outbreak.
Duncan is believed to have contracted the virus in Liberia before he flew to the United States nearly two weeks ago to visit relatives. He initially sought medical attention for a low-grade fever and abdominal pain on September 25. Blood tests were performed, but he was not screened for the Ebola virus, despite the fact that he had informed a nurse that he had recently arrived from Liberia. The Ebola epidemic is raging in Liberia as well as Guinea and Sierra Leone. Duncan was given antibiotics and a pain reliever and sent home, where his condition rapidly deteriorated.
The ebola virus causes Ebola hemorrhagic fever, an illness characterized by fever, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and massive internal bleeding. About 80 to 90 percent of all people who become infected die. There is no cure or vacccine for Ebola virus. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Frederick A. Murphy)
On September 28, Duncan’s nephew contacted the Center for Disease Control (CDC). “I called CDC to get some actions taken because I was concerned for his life and he was not getting the appropriate care,” the nephew, Josephus Weeks, stated in a television interview. “And I feared that other people might get infected if he was not taken care of.” CDC officials instructed Weeks to call the Texas Department of Health, which moved Duncan into an isolation unit at a Dallas hospital.
The commissioner of Texas State Health Services, David Lakey, today confirmed that four of Thomas Eric Duncan’s “close relatives” are under a quarantine order until October 19. The medical technicians who rushed the patient to the hospital are also being monitored. “We have tried and true protocols to protect the public and stop the spread of this disease,” declared Dr. Lakey. “This order gives us the ability to monitor the situation in the most meticulous way.”
Thomas Eric Duncan remains in isolation in stable but serious condition.
Additional World Book article:
- Disease Detectives (a special report)
- The Origin of New Diseases (a special report)
