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Ebola patient told hospital of Liberia travel but was not initially admitted Ebola patient told hospital of Liberia travel but was not initially admitted
(35 minutes later)
Health officials in Texas said on Wednesday that the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola outside Africa told hospital staff on his first visit that he had recently travelled from Liberia, but was not admitted. Health officials in Texas revealed on Wednesday that the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola outside Africa told hospital staff on his first visit that he had recently travelled from Liberia, where the disease is prevalent, but was nevertheless sent home.
An official at the Dallas hospital where he is being treated told a news conference that the patient told a nurse about his travel history, but that information was not widely enough shared with the medical team. An official at the Dallas hospital where he is being treated told a news conference that the patient told an emergency-room nurse about his travel history. But the information was not shared widely enough with the medical team treating him, and he was diagnosed as suffering from a “low-grade common viral disease”.
The man first came to the Texas Health Presbyterian hospital on 26 September, but was sent home with antibiotics. He returned two days later with more serious symptoms, and was admitted. The man, identified on Wednesday by his family as Thomas Eric Duncan, was sent home with a course of antibiotics, an outcome that the hospital described as a matter of “regret”.
Texas governor Rick Perry said that school-age children who may have been in contact with him are being monitored for signs of the disease. Ebola has so far killed more than 3,000 people in west Africa since the outbreak began in March, according to the World Health Organisation. Duncan travelled from Liberia to Texas on 19 September but did not begin to show symptoms of the disease until a few days after he arrived in the US.
More details soon... In an interview with the Associated Press, Duncan’s sister, Mai Wureh, confirmed that he was sent home from Texas Health Presbyterian hospital after his first visit on 26 September. Duncan returned two days later with more serious symptoms, when he was admitted. He was described as being in a serious but stable condition on Wednesday.
At the news conference, Texas governor Rick Perry said that school-age children who may have been in contact with the patient are being monitored at home for signs of the disease.
Mark Lester, a senior executive at Texas Health Resources, which operates the hospital where Duncan is being treated, said medical staff used an Ebola checklist on his first visit, which included a question about travel history. “That checklist was utilised by the nurse who did ask that question,” Lester said. “That nurse was part of a care team that was a complex care team taking care of him in the emergency department. Regretfully that information was not fully communicated throughout the full team. As a result the full import of that question was not factored in to the clinical decision making.”
That failure led staff to conclude that Duncan’s symptoms were “not yet typical” for Ebola and concluded that he was suffering from a “low-grade common viral disease”.
The Associated Press reported that three members of the ambulance crew that took Duncan to hospital have tested negative for Ebola but were being restricted to their homes while their conditions are observed.
Duncan was vomiting when the ambulance got to the hospital, Dallas city spokeswoman Sana Syed said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the federal public health agency, has sent a nine-member team to Texas to assist local and state officials. “If anyone develops fever, we’ll immediately isolate them to stop the chain of transmission,” said Tom Frieden, director of the CDC.