Five US airports to screen passengers
The first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States died early yes­terday, officials with Texas Health Presbyterian Hospi­tal announced.
Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, is also the first person known to die of Ebola in the United States. “It is with profound sadness and heartfelt dis­appointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this morning at 7:51 a.m.,” the hospital said in a written statement. “Mr. Duncan suc­cumbed to an insidious dis­ease, Ebola.”
The Liberian citizen, who recently traveled from West Africa to Dallas to reunite with a long-lost son and girl­friend, had been in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian since Sept. 28. Reports said it wasn’t immediately known what would happen to his body, which could remain contagious for several days. Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Pre­vention call for the remains to be immediately shrouded in plastic and double-bagged in leak-proof bags at the hos­pital, then promptly cremated or buried in an airtight casket. Duncan’s death came four days after his condition was downgraded from serious to critical. Over the weekend, he had begun receiving brin­cidofovir, an experimental antiviral drug which recently gained emergency approval from the FDA.
Meanwhile, five US air­ports will begin screening the temperatures of passengers arriving from West Africa as the United States ramps up its response to a deadly Ebola outbreak, officials said yesterday.
“The vast majority of peo­ple” coming from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three countries hit hard­est by the epidemic will be screened, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. The airports implement­ing the measures are John F. Kennedy International in New York, Washington Dull­es International, Chicago O’Hare International, Harts­field-Jackson Atlanta Inter­national and Newark Liberty International in New Jersey.
told the El Pais newspaper that she might have become infected when removing her protective suit after cleaning Mr Garcia Viejo’s room. “I think the error was the removal of the suit,” she told El Pais by phone. “I can see the moment it may have happened, but I’m not sure about it.”
She added that she did not have a fever yesterday and was “doing better”. In another de­velopment, the woman’s hus­band, Javier Limon, is reported to be fighting a court order to have their pet dog put down over fears it could be carry­ing the disease. Animal rights groups have also criticised the move, saying there is no evi­dence Ebola has been spread by dogs.

Ebola: First patient diagnosed with disease in US is dead