MOSCOW, October 8 (RIA Novosti) – Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, has died at a hospital in Dallas, Texas, Reuters reported Wednesday.
"It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this [Wednesday] morning at 7:51 am [12:51 GMT]," hospital spokesman Wendell Watson said in an e-mailed statement, as quoted by Reuters.
Duncan, who was a Liberian national, was admitted to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on September 28, after hospital workers mistakenly sent him home three days earlier, as he was not exhibiting any symptoms specific to the Ebola virus.
Another 50 people in the United States are currently at risk from exposure to the disease and are subject to monitoring by health authorities.
The Ebola epidemic currently taking place in West Africa broke out in Guinea, and later spread across Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal.
The epidemic has claimed the lives of over 3,400 people, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) estimates.
The Ebola virus is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of those infected. Though there is no officially approved medication for the disease, several countries, including Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan are working on developing Ebola vaccines.
