Vanguardngr:
Texas monitoring 100 people for possible Ebola exposure

Dallas - Health officials in Texas are monitoring 100 people for
signs of Ebola Thursday and ordered four “close family
members” to stay home as authorities investigate the first
confirmed US case of the disease.
The patient, who was reportedly identified as Thomas Eric
Duncan, traveled from Liberia to Texas in September and
began showing symptoms nearly a week before he was
formally diagnosed and isolated, raising concerns over how
many others may have been exposed.
Health authorities said they were monitoring a list of about
100 people who had some level of contact with Duncan.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we’re starting with this very
wide net, including people who have had even brief
encounters with the patient,” the Texas Department of State
Health Services said on its press office Twitter account.
“The number will drop as we focus in on those whose contact
may represent a potential risk of infection,” it added.
Meanwhile, the four family members will be legally required
to stay home without visitors until October 19.
They will also be required to provide blood samples, agree to
any health testing, and report any symptoms of Ebola,
including fever, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhea.
“We have tried and true protocols to protect the public and
stop the spread of this disease,” David Lakey, Texas health
commissioner, said in a statement.
“This order gives us the ability to monitor the situation in the
most meticulous way.”
The infected man was sent home from a hospital on
September 26, admitted two days later, but only formally
diagnosed with Ebola on September 30.
A person can become sick with Ebola up to 21 days after
exposure. However, infected patients are only contagious once
they start showing symptoms, and the virus can only spread
through direct contact with bodily fluids.
Duncan’s nephew, Josephus Weeks, told NBC News on
Wednesday that he called the US Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention on September 28 over concerns his uncle was
not getting proper care.
“I called CDC to get some actions taken, because I was
concerned for his life and he wasn’t getting the appropriate
care,” Weeks said.
“I feared other people might also get infected if he wasn’t
taken care of,” Weeks told NBC via Skype.
An official at the hospital where Duncan is being treated said
Wednesday the patient had told a nurse at his first exam on
September 26 that he had recently traveled to Africa, which,
coupled with his symptoms, should have immediately
prompted the hospital to consider Ebola.
“Regretfully, that information was not fully communicated
throughout the full team,” said Mark Lester, executive vice
president of Texas Health Resources, and the information was
sent home because the medical team “felt clinically it was a
low-grade common viral disease.”
West Africa is struggling to contain the world’s largest outbreak
of the deadly hemorrhagic virus in history, which has taken
more than 3,000 lives already this year.