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 Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed
with the deadly virus on U.S. soil, has also been given the
experimental medication brincidofovir. A hospital in Nebraska said
it is using the same drug to treat an American journalist who was
airlifted from Liberia and arrived Monday.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital said in a statement that Duncan's
liver function declined over the weekend. It said although it has
since improved, "doctors caution that this could vary in coming
days."
Duncan is being sedated. His temperature is normal and his diarrhea
has slowed, according to family members who spoke with his doctors
at the hospital on Tuesday. They did not see Duncan, who has been in
an isolation unit since Sept. 28.
Authorities in the United States and the public are on alert
following Duncan's diagnosis more than a week ago, which raised
concerns that the worst epidemic of Ebola on record could spread
from three hardest-hit impoverished countries - Guinea, Sierra Leone
and Liberia. Duncan, who arrived in Texas in late September on a
commercial flight from Liberia, has been in critical condition since
Saturday.
The first case of Ebola being contracted outside of West Africa was
reported in Spain and the World Health Organization expects more
cases in Europe.
Freelance NBC cameraman Ashoka Mukpo is being treated at the
Nebraska Medical Center, which cared for one other U.S. national
flown out of West Africa after contracting Ebola and was later
discharged.
A Maryland hospital said late Tuesday it discharged a patient
exposed to Ebola in Sierra Leone. He was flown to the United States
and admitted to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in
Bethesda, Maryland, on Sept. 28. The patient, who was not named,
will remain in his home for 21 days since his exposure to the virus,
a needle stick injury.
The drug used in Dallas and Nebraska, brincidofovir, was developed
by Durham, North Carolina-based Chimerix Inc. The company said it
has been tested in more than 1,000 patients without raising safety
concerns.
"We decided this was currently our best option for treatment," said
Phil Smith, medical director of the Nebraska Medical Center's
Biocontainment Unit, which consulted with U.S. health and drug
officials before making its decision.
Mukpo is experiencing symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and
diarrhea, the center said.
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U.S. health officials said on Tuesday they would unveil within days
new screening procedures at the country’s airports to address public
concern over the possibility of an outbreak.
Texas state health officials said they are monitoring 10 people who
had close contact with Duncan and 38 others who came into contact
with that group to see if anyone had developed signs of infection.
So far, no one has shown any symptoms, health officials said.
Officials have said this is a critical week to see if any of those
exposed in Dallas develop signs of the virus that has killed more
than 3,400 people since an outbreak in West Africa began in March,
out of nearly 7,500 confirmed, probable and suspected cases.
Dallas residents have mostly taken in news of Ebola within the city
limits calmly, but many have kept a close eye on whether it might
spread. Cars of Dallas County Sheriff's deputies who were at the
scene of the apartment where Duncan stayed have been scrubbed as a
precaution, the sheriff's office said.
Prominent civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson met members
of Duncan's family and held a prayer vigil on Tuesday in front of
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
Jackson said the hospital initially discharged Duncan because he was
poor and did not have medical insurance. About two days after Duncan
left the hospital, he was taken back by ambulance and put into
isolation. The hospital and health officials have said mistakes were
made in handling Duncan.
(Additional reporting by Marice Richter in Dallas, Jim Forsyth in
San Antonio and Sandra Maler in Washington; Writing by Jon
Herskovitz; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Grant McCool, Eric Walsh and
Lisa Shumaker)
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