MOSCOW, October 12 (RIA Novosti) - The family of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to die from the Ebola virus disease in the United States, has lashed out against Texas officials and the hospital where he was treated, the New York Times reported.
"I feel bad about my son," Nowai Gartay, Duncan's mother, was quoted as saying by the newspaper late Saturday. "We call the hospital, they know that my son died, and they didn't tell me. They only told me, "You can't talk to your son."
Josephus Weeks, Duncan's nephew, stated that his uncle had been treated "poorly, unfairly, and an injustice was done."
The Ebola victim's family also claimed that Duncan had been given inferior care because he was African, and that he was cremated without their knowledge, according to the New York Times.
Weeks has previously blamed the Texas Health Presbyterian hospital, where Duncan was treated, for failing to acknowledge the seriousness of his uncle's condition. The 42-year-old Ebola victim reportedly only received proper care when his nephew personally called the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national, died from the Ebola virus disease in Texas on Wednesday. Duncan was the first person to be diagnosed with the virus in the United States. He was admitted to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on September 28 after hospital workers mistakenly sent him home on September 25, as he was "not exhibiting symptoms specific to the disease".
Some 80 people, including several children, could have been in contact with Duncan before he was hospitalized, according to Dallas health officials.
An Ebola outbreak begun in West Africa in March and soon spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Over 4,000 people have lost their lives in the epidemic and some 8,300 people are confirmed or suspected to have contracted the virus, according to the latest WHO estimates.
The Ebola virus is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of those infected and there is no officially approved medication for the disease as of today. Several countries, including Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan are working on developing Ebola vaccines.
