Dallas Ebola Patient Condition Now Critical
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - Dallas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan is now in critical condition according to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. He had been listed in serious condition on Friday.
Candace White, a spokeswoman for Texas Health Resources, which operates the hospital in Dallas where Duncan is being treated, issued a six-word news release saying, "Mr. Duncan is in critical condition."
She provided no further details about his condition and didn't immediately respond to emails and phone calls. The hospital previously said Duncan was being kept in isolation and that his condition was serious but stable.
Health officials said Saturday that they are currently monitoring about 50 people for signs of the deadly disease who may have had contact with Duncan, including nine who are believed to be at a higher risk. Thus far none have shown symptoms. Among those being monitored are people who rode in the ambulance that transported Duncan back to the hospital before his diagnosis, said Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Duncan traveled from disease-ravaged Liberia to Dallas last month before he began showing symptoms of the disease. He was treated and released from the hospital before returning two days later in an ambulance and being diagnosed with Ebola.
On Friday, the CDC said they made contact with about 100 people that had possible contact with Duncan, and they had whittled down the list of people it needs to monitor daily to 50. Of those, 10 individuals were thought to have had the closest contact with Duncan and were classified as "high risk."
The agency said they will continue to monitor all 50 of them for the full 21-day incubation period of the virus. Daily monitoring includes a temperature reading twice a day. A public health worker will also offer education about the virus and ask about symptoms.
"We have cast a wide net, and we have decided on a group of people that we have a very low bar for deciding to follow," said Dr. Beth Bell from the CDC on Friday during the agency's daily conference call about the Ebola situation in Dallas. She says the agency has a very "low level of concern about the vast majority of these people."
On the list are people within the community and health care workers who came into contact with Duncan or any of his bodily fluids.
While no one is currently showing any symptoms of the disease, Bell cautioned Friday the close monitoring is important because, "there certainly is a possibility that some of the people who have already been in very close contact with the patient might develop Ebola."
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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