U.S. Ebola patient was at first sent home with antibiotics, increasing risk

The first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States told relatives that he notified health care workers the first time he went to the hospital that he was visiting the U.S. from Liberia, the man’s sister said Wednesday. Mai Wureh said her brother, Thomas Eric Duncan, went to a Dallas emergency room on Friday and was sent home with antibiotics. He returned two days later after his condition worsened and was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. Dr Mark Lester confirmed Wednesday that a nurse asked 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 “information was not fully communicated throughout the whole team.”

If anyone develops fever, we’ll immediately isolate them to stop the chain of transmission.

Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A nine-member group of federal health officials was tracking anyone who had close contact with the man. The team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was in Dallas to work with local and state health agencies to ensure that those people are watched every day for 21 days. Duncan has been kept in isolation at the hospital since Sunday. He was listed in serious but stable condition. According to reports, he was not tested before departing Liberia, but that was because he showed no symptoms and fell outside the CDC’s protocol to check those who have been in direct contact with the disease. The CDC also said it is not going to release the man’s flight information because “it’s just not necessary,” a spokesperson said.