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| Thomas Eric Duncan, America's First diagnosed Ebola patient |
I feel that it is unfair to have a good samaritan help a pregnant Ebola patient into a cab and then he catches it and everyone stigmatizing him without the facts. He has passed thru 3 countries with layovers in Brussels and has been to at least 2 US states. The job of health authorities now is to find contacts and begin quarantine of people instead of the panic and mayhem created especially on social media.
He is a 42-year-old Liberian citizen, said a friend who knows him well but asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of his case. Duncan's Facebook page indicates that he's from the Liberian capital of Monrovia, where he attended E. Jonathan Goodridge High School.
Why did he come to the United States?
To visit family and friends, according to the friend, who noted this was Duncan's first trip to America. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Thomas Frieden has said that Duncan was "staying with family members who live in this country."
Duncan was visiting his son and his son's mother in Dallas, according to Wilfred Smallwood, Duncan's half-brother.
When did Duncan leave Liberia?
He departed the West African nation on September 19, Frieden says.
How did he get Ebola?
Authorities haven't said.
Why did he come to the United States?
To visit family and friends, according to the friend, who noted this was Duncan's first trip to America. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Thomas Frieden has said that Duncan was "staying with family members who live in this country."
Duncan was visiting his son and his son's mother in Dallas, according to Wilfred Smallwood, Duncan's half-brother.
When did Duncan leave Liberia?
He departed the West African nation on September 19, Frieden says.
How did he get Ebola?
Authorities haven't said.
Witnesses say Duncan had been helping Ebola patients in Liberia. Liberian community leader Tugbeh Chieh Tugbeh said Duncan was caring for an Ebola-infected patient at a residence in Paynesville City, just outside Monrovia.
The New York Times reported Thursday that Duncan had direct contact with a pregnant woman stricken with Ebola on September 15, days before he left for the United States. Citing the woman's parents and Duncan's neighbors in Monrovia, Liberia, the newspaper said Duncan had helped carry the ailing woman home after a hospital turned her away because there wasn't enough space in its Ebola treatment ward.
A CDC spokesman told CNN on Wednesday that he hadn't seen the newspaper's report and couldn't comment.
Was he screened for Ebola before getting on the plane?
Yes, according to Binyah Kesselly, board chairman of the Liberia Airport Authority.
"The first screening was at the gate, before you get to the parking lot. The second time is before you enter the terminal building and the third is before you board the flight. At every point your temperature is scanned."
His temperature at those checkpoints was a consistent 97.3 degrees Fahrenheit, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Thomas Frieden told reporters Thursday. On a health screening questionnaire, Duncan answered "no" to questions about whether he had cared for a patient with the deadly virus and whether he had touched the body of someone who died in an area affected by the disease, Kesselly said.
The New York Times reported Thursday that Duncan had direct contact with a pregnant woman stricken with Ebola on September 15, days before he left for the United States. Citing the woman's parents and Duncan's neighbors in Monrovia, Liberia, the newspaper said Duncan had helped carry the ailing woman home after a hospital turned her away because there wasn't enough space in its Ebola treatment ward.
A CDC spokesman told CNN on Wednesday that he hadn't seen the newspaper's report and couldn't comment.
Was he screened for Ebola before getting on the plane?
Yes, according to Binyah Kesselly, board chairman of the Liberia Airport Authority.
"The first screening was at the gate, before you get to the parking lot. The second time is before you enter the terminal building and the third is before you board the flight. At every point your temperature is scanned."
His temperature at those checkpoints was a consistent 97.3 degrees Fahrenheit, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Thomas Frieden told reporters Thursday. On a health screening questionnaire, Duncan answered "no" to questions about whether he had cared for a patient with the deadly virus and whether he had touched the body of someone who died in an area affected by the disease, Kesselly said.
With Files from CNN
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