First US Ebola Patient Dies While Suspected Patient Released

The first person in the United States to be diagnosed with the Ebola virus died on Wednesday morning according to multiple media reports, while another patient suspected of having Ebola was released from the hospital.

Thomas Eric Duncan was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas at the end of September having traveled to Liberia and come into the country not showing any signs or symptoms of the deadly virus. While Duncan was not the first American to be diagnosed with Ebola, he is believed to be the first death as a result.

The National Institutes of Health announced Tuesday that a patient they had been treating who had been suspected of having Ebola had been released but will be closely monitored. That patient had arrived at the NIH Clinical Health Center from Sierra Leone at around the same time that Duncan was admitted to the Texas facility.

According to a statement from the NIH the unidentified patient was admitted after a “high-risk exposure,” to the virus. The statement said that exposure came in the form of being stuck with a potentially infected needle.

After the patient was hospitalized with a fever, the NIH said doctors determined the symptoms were not related to the virus which has claimed thousands of lives in West Africa.

“Because he had an exposure and a fever, there was a greater chance he had active infection, thus the reason for isolation,” the statement noted. “Currently, the patient feels well and has no fever.”

After leaving the hospital the patient will still follow guidelines set by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure he is not infected and that the virus will not be spread. That includes staying in his house and checking his temperature twice daily for a 21-day observation period.

As of October 3, the CDC said there were 7,492 cases of Ebola reported of which 4,108 were “laboratory-confirmed.” They put the number of total deaths from the virus at 3,439.