Liberia: Texas Ebola patient lied about exposure on travel forms

Liberian officials said today they plan to prosecute Thomas Eric Duncan, the man who brought Ebola to Texas, for allegedly lying on an airport questionnaire about his contact with an Ebola victim.

The airport questionnaire, obtained by the Associated Press, asks prospective passengers if they have treated an Ebola victim or had contact with a body. Duncan answered no to all questions, and security allowed him to leave the country Sept. 19.

Duncan is now in serious condition at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. U.S. officials are monitoring a web of about 80 people who may have had direct contact with him or someone close to him.

Duncan’s neighbors in Monrovia, Liberia, told the Associated Press he likely became ill after he had contact with a convulsing 19-year-old woman who was seven months pregnant and complaining of stomach pain. Duncan helped her to a taxi. The area is one of the city’s most volatile Ebola hotspots, but neighbors said everyone thought the woman’s symptoms were pregnancy-related.

The woman and her unborn child died after no hospital could find room for her, neighbors say, and everyone who helped her is now sick or dead. According to United Nations figures, Ebola has sickened more than 7,100 people in West Africa and killed more than 3,300.

Like all passengers leaving Liberia, Duncan was screened at the airport for Ebola symptoms. Outgoing passengers are checked for fever, and officials have determined no lapses occurred in that aspect of Duncan’s case. Duncan flew through Belgium and Washington, D.C., before arriving Sept. 20 in Dallas. But because he did not develop symptoms until days later, federal health officials say no one on those flights is in danger.

Even so, concerns in Dallas remain high. Hospital officials said Wednesday Duncan’s connection to Liberia wasn’t communicated to the whole medical team, so doctors sent him home last Thursday, where he stayed until family members called an ambulance Sunday.

Some parents pulled their children out of school and planned to keep them at home the remainder of the week after officials announced five kids connected to Duncan likely attended school after their possible exposure. They showed no symptoms, school officials say, meaning they weren’t contagious. And to ease people’s minds, officials planned to staff the children’s schools with extra custodial workers for the time being.

Texas and federal officials continue to reassure the public there is nothing to fear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has received 94 inquiries about illnesses that initially were suspected to be Ebola. Of the 13 people who actually needed to undergo testing, Duncan is the only one to test positive. Nigeria and Senegal, without the level of resources Americans have, contained similar travel-related outbreaks and haven’t recorded new cases in more than a month.

But among the roughly 10,000 Liberians in North Texas, fear of Ebola is strong enough that they are avoiding public gatherings, said Stanley Gaye, president of the Liberian Community Association of Dallas-Fort Worth. One woman of Liberian descent pulled her daughter out of one of the schools attended by children thought to have had contact with Duncan, planning to enroll her elsewhere. She told the Associated Press she knows Duncan’s family and the monitored children.

“In situations like this, you cannot stay friends,” Yah Zuo said. “You have to protect the ones you love.”

A similar sentiment is dividing the once tight-knit communities in Liberia devastated by the deadly disease. As 9-year-old Mercy Kennedy sobbed along with neighbors mourning news of her mother's death—she also helped the pregnant woman suspected of infecting Duncan—not a soul would come near her. The most compassion the little girl received came from a man who remained at a safe distance.

“We love you so dearly, yeah,” said the man, who wore conspicuous rubber gloves. “We want to take care of you. Have you been playing with your friends here?”

A UN children’s agency said Tuesday at least 3,700 children have lost a parent to Ebola in West Africa, but fear has led many to refuse to care for them. American aid efforts, bolstered by roughly 3,000 American troops, are just getting underway, with plans for at least 17 clinics for treatment and training in Liberia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.