Dallas Ebola Patient Thomas Eric Duncan Dies, Hospital Says

By Scott Neuman / NPR

Published October 8, 2014 at 5:42 AM PDT

This story was published more than 10 years ago.

This 2011 photo provided by Wilmot Chayee shows Thomas Eric Duncan at a wedding in Ghana. Duncan, who became the first patient diagnosed in the U.S with Ebola, has died, the hospital where he was being treated said.

Thomas Eric Duncan, the 33-year-old man who contracted Ebola in Liberia and later traveled to Dallas, where he was being treated, has died, hospital officials say.

A statement from the company that runs Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where Duncan was in isolation, read:

"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 am. Mr. Duncan succumbed to an insidious disease, Ebola. He fought courageously in this battle. Our professionals, the doctors and nurses in the unit, as well as the entire Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas community, are also grieving his passing. We have offered the family our support and condolences at this difficult time."

Duncan arrived in Dallas on Sept. 20 and became ill within days.

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As NPR's Michaleen Doucleff reported last month, Duncan first developed symptoms on Wednesday, Sept. 24, according to the CDC, and first sought care that Friday. On Sunday, Sept. 28, he was placed in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Within days, health officials said they were tracing as many as 100 people who had either direct or secondary contact with Duncan for monitoring. They subsequently narrowed the list to about 50, with only about 10 people said to have had close contact and be at the greatest risk for the disease — although health officials have repeatedly said the risk was low for all of the "contact traces."