Up to 100
people in Texas are believed to have had contact with Ebola patient
Thomas Eric Duncan as the patient's quarantined girlfriend said today
she has not been told by authorities what to do with the infected man's
sweat-soaked bedclothes which remain in her home.
Mr Duncan's partner, Louise, told CNN that
she has been legally ordered to stay inside her Dallas apartment with
her 13-year-old child and two nephews, who are both in their twenties,
as they came in direct contact with the patient while he was contagious.
None
of the four people quarantined are showing Ebola symptoms but Louise,
who works as a home help, has been taking the group's temperature every
hour.
The
CDC has not told the mother what to do with Mr Duncan's sweat-soaked
sheets and pillows which remain in the home. She has placed the towels
he used in plastic bags and cleaned up with bleach.
The four schools affected introduced
safety measures on Wednesday including cleaning teams and extra nurses
to monitor any students suffering from fever or flu-like symptoms
Gabriella Beltran, right, walks from
Hotchkiss Elementary with her children Valeria Curranza, Joseph Manuel
Beltran and Oliver Torres in Dallas on Wednesday after parents were
asked to pick their children up early. Children who were in close
contact with the man who has Ebola attend the school - causing some
panicked parents to temporarily remove their kids
Louise,
who has one child with Mr Duncan, told Anderson Cooper that she does
not believe she has Ebola because she did not come in contact with
bodily fluids. She said Mr Duncan was 'prideful' in taking care of
himself when he became sick.
Mr Duncan, who arrived in the U.S. from Liberia on September 20, suffered diarrhea and was sweating and shivering in her bed.
Louise
said that she did not believe he had thrown up outside the apartment on
Sunday, as a neighbor reported, and wished to reassure her neighbors.
The number of family members who came in contact with Mr Duncan while he was contagious is unclear, CNN reported.
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 for Ebola
An unidentified male peeks his head
through a curtain inside the apartment where Ebola sufferer Thomas Eric
Duncan was staying when he became contagious in Dallas, Texas
Louise's
daughter, who does not live at the quarantined apartment, was the
person who called an ambulance for Mr Duncan on Sunday after she came to
her mother's home to bring him tea and found him feverish and
shivering.
It is unclear if she traveled with him in the ambulance or came in close contact with the infected man.
Louise
told CNN that she has other children, who are not currently living at
the home but elsewhere in Dallas and also a son at college. They did not
come in contact with Mr Duncan, she said.
The
family who are isolated in the apartment have been told they face
criminal charges if they leave the apartment or accept visitors.
However
MailOnline reported on Wednesday that three individuals - a man in his
twenties with a roll of garbage bags and two women - came and left the
apartment.
The
quarantined woman said that she has been given no instructions by the
Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) on how to dispose of
the contaminated bedding in the home or what the family would do for
food.
She said that two CDC workers who visited the home on Wednesday brought sandwiches.
Following
the shocking revelation, the CDC said on Thursday afternoon that
medical contractors would be visiting the home to deal with the
contaminated materials.
A map of North Dallas in Texas reveals
the proximity of where Mr Duncan was staying in relation to the
hospital and schools as officials said today the Ebola patient may have
come in contact with up to 100 people
Louise
said that she took Mr Duncan to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital for
the first time where she told a check-in receptionist and a nurse that
he had recently come from Liberia, a known Ebola 'hot zone'.
The mother said that she did not initially think that Mr Duncan was suffering from Ebola but perhaps malaria.
She
said the couple did not discuss Ebola despite the fact that Mr Duncan
had recently traveled from the stricken region and, according to
reports, had helped carried a neighbor's daughter who was dying from
Ebola.
The
hospital gave Mr Duncan antibiotics and sent him home, where he became
even sicker, making frequent trips to the bathroom. Louise said Mr
Duncan stayed in the apartment.
Louise
told CNN that she is very worried but keeps praying and has spoken Mr
Duncan via telephone from his quarantine unit at Texas Presbyterian
where his condition remains stable.
The
health officials said around 100 people may have come into contact with
Mr Duncan. Earlier, they had put the figure at up to 18, including five
children.
Some
parents have temporarily removed their children from four affected
Dallas schools after learning that five students may have come into
contact with Mr Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in
the U.S.
School
administrators appealed for calm as none of the children have shown
symptoms and are being monitored at home, where they will likely remain
for three weeks.
Parents
and pupils at schools in Dallas where children were possibly infected
with Ebola said that they were appalled at how the crisis was being
handled.
The schools were named as Tasby Middle School, Dan D. Rogers Elementary, Lowe Elementary and Conrad High School.
Parents
and students were only told on Wednesday that their schools had been
affected - a day after the public were informed that a patient had the
deadly virus.
They were given a letter and a fact sheet but were told it was 'all fine' and that children had to remain in school.
But
Marcie Pardo and other parents left L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary
indicating that they were taking no chances and would keep their
children home for the rest of the week.
'Kids
pretty much touch everything. Not everyone washes their hands,' Pardo
said. 'It's the contagious part that gets me worried.'
Nikki
Turner, 31, who has a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old at Tasby Middle
School and Conrad High told MailOnline on Thursday that the school
authorities 'could be doing a lot more'.
She
said: 'All I've been told was in a phone call on Wednesday when they
said the children who had it are being taken out and it was all OK.
'I
had to take my children to hospital last night for blood tests to make
sure they're alright. They are not telling us enough, they need to tell
me more.'
Two signs taped to a closed off
driveway in front of Emmett J. Conrad High School read, 'All Traffic Go
Around Back' on Wednesday, in Dallas. Authorities pleaded for calm after
five students who had contact with a man diagnosed with Ebola are being
monitored but are showing no symptoms of the disease
A letter from Tasby Middle School on Wednesday aimed to reassure parents that the school was taking Ebola precautions
Ebola isn't contagious until symptoms appear, and then it can spread only by close contact with a patient's bodily fluids.
Ms
Pardo said that knowledge makes her feel better, but that she still
took her eight-year-old daughter, Soriah, home from school early, along
with her cousin.
Dallas
Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles said on Wednesday
the district is taking an 'abundance of caution' and would add more
health workers to keep watch for symptoms among students.
At the affected schools, cleaning teams in hazmat suits were seen scrubbing the hallways, Kstp.com reported.
'The students didn't have any symptoms, so the odds of them passing on any sort of virus is very low,' Miles said.
Dallas Independent School District
Superintendent Mike Miles speaks as Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings (second
left) and others listen at a media conference at Texas Health
Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on October 1
However tensions have already risen among some students.
Tasby
pupil Francisco Garcia, 14, described a scene of chaos to MailOnline on
Wednesday as pupils found out through gossip rather than an official
announcement.
He
said: 'One kid was telling everyone that somebody had Ebola in school
but nobody believed him. We said that Ebola was something that happens
in Africa'
'We were all joking about it and touching each other and saying you have Ebola.
'Then
our health sciences teacher told us it was true and told us not to
panic. There was not announcement or anything. They just let us out
floor by floor at the end of the day.'
His
friend Angela Gandy, 14, added: 'They have not had any doctors in to
check on us. One of my friends' mums took her out of school and is
keeping her there for 21 days.'
Evelyn Barrientos, 12, a pupil at Tasby, said that there had been no doctors in the school to check up on them.
She
said: 'I think they should be keeping us away from school. If it was up
to me I would not be here. I don't think they are taking it as
seriously as they should.'
Her mother Maria Arredondo, 39, added: 'I'm scared. I'm worried for my daughter'.
A
letter handed out to parents of students at Tasby on Wednesday warned
parents that one of school's students may have had contact with the
Ebola patient and had been advised to stay home from classes.
The
note reassured parents that their children were not in 'imminent
danger' and that health measures were being put in place. Additional
nurses would be at the school to watch children who report fever or
flu-like symptoms and the school building would be thoroughly cleaned
each night as a precaution.
Candis Holt, a mother of a
kindergarten student at L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary school, shows a piece
of paper handed to her by the school with frequently asked questions
about the Ebola virus after she dropped her child off today
Ebola
is believed to have sickened more than 7,100 people in West Africa, and
led to more than 3,300 deaths have been linked to the disease,
according to the World Health Organization.
Symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus.
Details
of his treatment have not been revealed but Mr Duncan is reportedly not
being treated with the experimental serum ZMapp - because there is none
left.
It
was not exactly clear how the Ebola patient knew the children, but his
sister Mai Wureh said he had been visiting with family including two
nephews.
Officials have not revealed the ages of the children who had contact with the man.
The
mounting panic in Dallas comes as new details about the severity of Mr
Duncan's condition were revealed including that he was 'vomiting all
over the place' when he was eventually admitted to hospital on Sunday -
four days are showing symptoms of Ebola.
One neighbor, Mesud Osmanovic, told NBC that
Mr Duncan was 'throwing up all over the place' outside the apartment
block as he was helped into an ambulance while his hysterical family
looked on.
Mr
Duncan's family were among the original 18 people being monitored after
exposure to the man along with the ambulance crew who transported him
to hospital.
The
three crew members 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.
State
officials delivered a legal order on Wednesday night to the family of
Mr Duncan, ordering them to stay home until October 19 and not have any
visitors without approval, officials said.
'We
have tried and true protocols to protect the public and stop the spread
of this disease,' said Dr. David Lakey, Texas health commissioner.
'This
order gives us the ability to monitor the situation in the most
meticulous way.'The Liberian national had traveled to the U.S. from
Liberia on September 20 to visit his family, traveling via Brussels in
Belgium.
A security patrol car cruises the
parking lot outside 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
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
Liberian national had traveled to the U.S. from Liberia on September 20
to visit his family, traveling via Brussels in Belgium.
Mr Duncan's sister, Mai Wureh, confirmed on Wednesday that her brother had been hospitalized with Ebola
Mr Duncan began to develop symptoms of Ebola on September 24, four days after arriving in the U.S.
He
first went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on September 26 where
he told a nurse that he was visiting from a West African country in the
so-called 'Ebola hot zone'.
Mr Duncan underwent basic blood tests but not an Ebola screening.
The
42-year-old was sent home with antibiotics for a 'low-grade virus', a
critically-missed opportunity to prevent others being exposed to the
disease.
He was finally quarantined on Sunday - a week after arriving in the U.S.
It
also 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.
Texas
Presbyterian officials confirmed on Wednesday that information that Mr
Duncan had been in an area of Ebola outbreak 'was not fully communicated
throughout the whole team'.
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.
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
Mr Duncan was sent home from Texas
Presbyterian Hospital last week after presenting with Ebola symptoms. A
doctor confirmed on Wednesday that a nurse asked Mr Duncan on his first
visit whether he had been in an area affected by the Ebola outbreak but
that the 'information was not fully communicated to the whole team'
According to The New York Times,
Mr Duncan worked moving cargo for Fedex in the Liberian capital
Monrovia but had recently quit his job and acquired a visa to come to
the U.S. where his son reportedly lives.
The
Times also revealed that Mr Duncan may have contracted Ebola while
helping carry his landlord's seriously ill, pregnant daughter to
hospital.
The
woman, named by The Times as 19-year-old Marthalene Williams was taken
to a hospital on September 15, but turned away because there was no room
to treat her. She died the following day.
The landlord's son and three neighbors who came in contact with the woman also died soon afterwards.
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 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.
Hundreds
of passengers were exposed to Mr Duncan after it was revealed 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 is currently unknown and no details are being released.
United
Airlines has said it believes 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 Brussel Airlines, one of a
very few operators still flying to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
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 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.
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 Mail Online. '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 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.'
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.
An epidemic of the Ebola virus (seen here in a file photo) has killed close to 4,000 people in West Afric
Ebola is not contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread
President Obama is aware of the patient's Ebola diagnosis and the public health investigation, the White House said.
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
sure everybody else is safe at the same time.'
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.
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.
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 close to 4,000 people in West Africa.DAILYMAIL.CO.UK
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