DALLAS (Reuters) – Four people close to the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States were quarantined in a Dallas apartment where sheets and other items used by the man were sealed in plastic bags as health officials widened their search for others who had direct or indirect contact with him.
In Liberia, an American freelance television cameraman working for NBC News in Liberia has contracted Ebola, the fifth US citizen known to be infected with the deadly virus that has killed at least 3,300 people in the current outbreak in West Africa.
The 33-year-old man, whose name was not released, will be flown back to the United States for treatment, the network said yesterday.
Immediately after beginning to feel ill and discovering he was running a slight fever, the cameraman quarantined himself. He then went to a Doctors Without Borders treatment centre and 12 hours later learned he tested positive for Ebola.
US health officials said they were confident they could prevent the spread of Ebola in America after the first case was diagnosed this week on US soil.
Up to 100 people had direct or indirect contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian citizen, and a handful were being monitored, said Dr Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
None of those thought to have had contact with Duncan were showing symptoms of Ebola, Dallas County officials said at a news conference.
Duncan helped a pregnant woman who later died of Ebola in Liberia, just days before flying to Texas via Brussels and Washington two weeks ago. Duncan had been staying in an apartment in the northeastern part of the city for about a week before going to a Dallas hospital.
In Liberia, the head of the country’s airport authority, Binyah Kesselly, said the government could prosecute Duncan for denying he had contact with someone who was eventually diagnosed with Ebola.
