The first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States has died, a hospital spokesman said.
Thomas Eric Duncan died Wednesday morning, said Wendell Watson of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
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Duncan, 42, was given the experimental Ebola drug brincidofovir, but his family said he was doing poorly and the hospital had downgraded his condition from serious to critical. When the family visited Tuesday with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, they declined to view him via video link because the last time had been too upsetting.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins issued a statement saying, “My thoughts are with the family and friends of Thomas Eric Duncan at this time, especially his fiancĂ©e Louise, their son Karsiah and all those who loved him."
Duncan arrived in Dallas on Sept. 20 from Liberia and fell ill a few days later. He was sent home after an initial visit to the emergency room, but taken back to the hospital on Sept. 28 and kept in isolation since then.
Duncan may have contracted the virus in Liberia while taking a deathly ill neighbor to the hospital in a taxi. He left Monrovia on a Sept. 19 flight and arrived in the U.S. the next day. He started showing symptoms Sept. 24 and went to a Dallas hospital for treatment Sept. 26. He was sent home, only to be brought back by ambulance on Sept. 28 and diagnosed with the deadly virus.
Authorities in Texas have been taking steps to contain the virus that has ravaged West Africa, killing thousands of people. Officials say 10 people had direct contact with Duncan while he was contagious.
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