MANILA, Philippines—With the recent case of a Liberian man succumbing to Ebola virus while being treated in the United States and a Spanish nurse contracting it, fears grow as the deadly disease that claims nearly half of all its victims continue to spread.
Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, was the first confirmed case of Ebola in the US. He did not show symptoms when leaving Ebola-hit West African nation, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its October 1 bulletin.
“The case sought medical care on September 26, 2014 and was admitted into isolation on September 28, 2014 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas,” it said.
Duncun died October 8 and his fiancé, their son, and two other young men are being kept in isolation for further observation as Ebola could take up to 21 days before symptoms show.
The epicenter of the Ebola outbreak are Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea in West Africa where majority of the 8,000 cases have been recorded, the highest in recorded history.
The virus has a nearly 50 percent mortality rate with at least 3,800 deaths as of October 8, 2014.
Treatments for Ebola are still under the experimental stage.