The first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States died Wednesday morning in a Dallas hospital, according to a hospital spokesman.
Thomas Eric Duncan was pronounced dead at 7:51 a.m. at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where he was admitted Sept. 28 and has been kept in isolation, according to spokesman Wendell Watson.
Duncan carried the deadly virus with him from his home in Liberia, though he showed no signs when he left for the United States. He arrived in Dallas Sept. 20 and fell sick a few days later. His condition was downgraded during the weekend from serious to critical.
Others in Dallas still are being monitored as health officials try to contain the virus that has ravaged West Africa, with more than 3,400 people reported dead. They also are trying to tamp down anxiety among residents frightened of contracting Ebola, though the disease can be spread only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an already sick person.
Health officials have identified 10 people, including seven health workers, who had direct contact with Duncan while he was contagious. Another 38 people also may have come into contact with him.
The four people living in the northeast Dallas apartment where Duncan stayed have been isolated in a private residence.
Everyone who potentially had contact with Duncan will be monitored for 21 days, the normal incubation period for the disease.
Duncan passed an airport health screening in Liberia, where doctors measured his temperature as normal and found no signs of Ebola symptoms. But a few days after he arrived, he began to have a fever, headache and abdominal pain.
He went to the emergency room of Texas Health Presbyterian in Dallas on Sept. 24, but was sent home. By Sept. 27, his condition had worsened. An ambulance that day took him back to the hospital, where he stayed in isolation.
The hospital has changed its explanation several times about when Duncan arrived and what he said about his travel history. It has acknowledged that Duncan told them on his first visit that he came from West Africa.
Also Wednesday, the Homeland Security Department ordered agents at airports and other ports of entry to observe everyone coming into the United States for potential signs of Ebola infection, officials said Wednesday.
Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Customs and Border Protection agents are also handing out factsheets to travelers with details of what symptoms to look for and directions to call a doctor if they become sick within 21 days.
Mayorkas did not elaborate on how they would observe people or say when the new measures would begin. He said agents would observe all travelers for “general signs of illness” at the points of entry. He spoke at an airport security conference in Northern Virginia on Wednesday.
The Obama administration has wrestled in recent weeks with what it can do effectively to detect arriving passengers who may be carrying the disease since many of them may not be symptomatic when they arrive.
Mayorkas said the department was aware of those issues and is “taking a layered approach.”
Shortly after word of Duncan’s death in Dallas, Secretary of State John Kerry made an urgent appeal in Washington for nations to “step up” their response to the Ebola outbreak. He said more money, equipment and personnel are needed now.
In an impassioned appeal, Kerry said progress against the disease is being made, but far too slowly and that the world is not where it needs to be in stemming its spread.
Speaking with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Kerry said it is essential for airlines to keep flying to west Africa and for borders to remain open to allow for the movement of assistance and medical staff.
This story will be updated.
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