Eric Thomas Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with the Ebola virus on US soil, has died early this morning in the Texas Health presbyterian Hospital, Dallas.
Duncan, who was aged 42, died at 7.51am, according to the hospital. “Mr Duncan succumbed to deadly virus, Ebola. He fought courageously in this battle. Our professionals, the doctors and nurses in the unit, as well as the entire Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas community, are also grieving his passing. We have offered the family our support and condolences at this difficult time,” the statement said.
Duncan’s Ebola diagnosis was confirmed last Tuesday and his condition worsened over the weekend. His liver function declined, he was placed on dialysis and was breathing through a respirator. He was being treated with the experimental antiviral drug 'brincidofovir'.
It would be recalled that Duncan traveled from Liberia to the US on 19th of September 2014 to reunite with his girlfriend, Louise Troh, the mother of his son, Karsiah. While being sick, he brought by ambulance to Texas Health Presbyterian on 28th of September, where he was admitted and placed in isolation.
Unfortunately, his girl friend, Troh and three other members of her family were placed under quarantine, where they must remain until 19th of October.
It was rumuored that Duncan contracted the disease while helping his landlord take their 19-year-old daughter to an Ebola treatment ward in Monrovia. The young woman’s brother began showing symptoms of the virus around the same time as Duncan. The brother, however, died days later en route to the hospital in Monrovia.
On Tuesday, civil rights leader Rev Jesse Jackson traveled to Dallas to pray with Duncan’s family, who came from North Carolina. The family was able to glimpse their ill relative through the hospital’s camera system.
May his soul rest in peace, Amen.
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