Liberian Ebola patient in Texas dies: US hospital

WASHINGTON - A Liberian man who was the first person diagnosed with Ebola outside of Africa has died in a Texas hospital, officials said Wednesday.

"It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this morning at 7:51 am (1251 GMT)," said the statement from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas spokesman Wendell Watson.

"Mr. Duncan succumbed to an insidious disease, Ebola. He fought courageously in this battle."

Duncan flew from Liberia to Texas to visit family, arriving in Dallas on September 20. He began feeling sick four days later, but was not hospitalized until September 28.

The Texas health care system came under heavy criticism for initially turning Duncan away when he first sought care on September 25.

Duncan was sent home even after he reported Ebola-like symptoms and said he had recently traveled from Liberia, the hardest-hit nation in the current outbreak.

"The past week has been an enormous test of our health system, but for one family it has been far more personal. Today they lost a dear member of their family," said Texas health commissioner David Lakey.

"They have our sincere condolences, and we are keeping them in our thoughts."

Duncan's condition worsened from serious to critical over the weekend. On Saturday, he began receiving an experimental treatment called brincidofovir.

On Monday, doctors said his liver function had declined, and that he was on a ventilator and was receiving kidney dialysis.

The Texas Department of Health said Duncan's body would be transported in a double-layer of two sealed bags and cremated, and that the family had agreed to the process.

"The cremation process will kill any virus in the body, so the remains can be returned to the family. No protective gear is needed to handle the remains after cremation," it said.

Health officials are monitoring 48 people who may have come in contact with Duncan, and none of them have shown any symptoms of Ebola.

The virus is spread through close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, or by touching the corpse of a person who has died of Ebola, experts say.

US hospitals in Nebraska and Georgia have successfully treated and released three American missionaries who were infected with Ebola in West Africa.

A fourth US doctor was treated at Emory University Hospital after becoming infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone. His name and condition were never released by officials.

Another US national who worked as a freelance cameraman for NBC News, Ashoka Mukpo, arrived in Nebraska this week for treatment after catching Ebola in Liberia.

The first known US citizen to come down with Ebola, dual American-Liberian national Patrick Sawyer, died in July after traveling by plane from Liberia to Nigeria.

AFP