Family that hosted Ebola patient quarantined
DALLAS, TX (KTRK) -- Relatives of Ebola patient Thomas Duncan are growing more concerned about their family members in quarantine inside the Dallas apartment where he visited.
Joe Weeks is Duncan's nephew. He fears what he calls a "crisis brewing" as the four family members are living still among bedding, towels and other items used by Duncan after his symptoms developed. A specially contracted bio-hazard cleanup crew was supposed to come take those items away and decontaminate the apartment last night but that crew reportedly was turned away because the company apparently did not have the proper Department of Transportation permits to move hazardous waste on Texas highways.
Weeks says he is the one who called the Centers for Disease Control after Duncan was initially released from the hospital.
"I wasn't going to wait to see how long it would take, so I preempted," Weeks said. "I called CDC and reported it might be a possible Ebola case in Texas and the hospital was not doing what they needed to do at that time."
That hazardous material crew is also expected to return today, with the proper permits, to the Dallas apartment of a woman confined under armed guard after a man infected with Ebola stayed at her home. Louise Troh says she's tired of being locked up. Her visitor was at first discharged from a hospital without being tested for the deadly virus, and authorities say that's widened the circle of people in the U.S. possibly exposed to the disease.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas admits it made a mistake in sending Duncan home after he initially came to the emergency room for treatment. With his consent they released information about that visit. He had a feveral of 100.1, abdominal pain and a sharp headache. They say he told a nurse he has recently been to Africa. Hospital officials say the nurse put that information into the computer but it never came up on a profile seen by doctors. The hospital is now changing the way it shares information between nurses and doctors.
Authorities say Duncan may have had contact, direct or indirect, with 100 people. At least eight children have been sent home from Dallas schools because of concerns about their potential exposure to Duncan after he developed symptoms.
Duncan remains in serious condition in isolation.
