Texas Ebola victim dies as diseases spreads
pharmafile | October 9, 2014 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | Chicago O’Hare, Ebola, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Newark Liberty, Thomas Eric Duncan, UK, US, Washington Dulles
A Liberian national named Thomas Eric Duncan has died in an isolation ward of a Dallas, Texas hospital after being admitted 11 days before.
Duncan flew into the US in late September from his home country of Liberia to visit family, but after initially showing no symptoms he became very ill. His condition was not immediately picked up however, and Duncan initially sought treatment two days before being admitted, but was sent home with antibiotics.
It later transpired that he was violently ill outside a residence and may have come into contact with dozens of people before being admitted to hospital. Duncan died yesterday after being given the experimental drug brincidofovir, made by Chimerix, which has not been tested on humans or animals.
Doctors say that this was used ahead of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals drug TKM-Ebola, which has been tested on humans. TKM-Ebola was in fact given to another US patient, Dr Rick Sancra, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia, but has since been cured.
Hospital spokesman Wendell Watson told Reuters that Duncan died at 7:51 am. He was 45 years old and a total of around 48 people had direct or indirect contact with Duncan since he arrived in the US since 20 September.
These are now being monitored, but none have yet shown any symptoms, according to health officials. In response to Duncan’s death the White House has announced that screening for fever will be carried out for arriving passengers from West Africa.
It says that the screening will start at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport from the weekend, and later be used at Newark Liberty, Washington Dulles, Chicago O’Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta.
The UK has been urged by some in the media to begin a similar screening initiative, but the government has so far resisted these calls. But the new foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said this week that the UK will be sending 750 military personnel to Sierra Leone to help deal with the outbreak.
A Spanish nurse named as Teresa Romero Ramo also became the first person to contract the virus outside West Africa this week after being admitted to a hospital in Madrid with Ebola.
She says she remembers touching her face after treating a dying priest, but has stated to local media that when she first told health authorities of her symptoms, she was given only paracetamol.
Growing cases
Just before Duncan’s death the WHO reported 8,033 Ebola cases, with 3,865 deaths in six countries as of 5 October.
It is West Africa that is bearing the brunt of the disease as logistical and financial problems continue to dog aid workers in the area, and the vast majority of deaths have been in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – where 879 have died.
The virus is one of the deadliest in the world and can have up to a 90% mortality rate, although this current epidemic appears to be around 50 per cent. Swift access to care and medical staff are seen as vitally important to increase the chances of survival.
A number of Western aid workers have contracted the disease, with the British nurse William Pooley surviving Ebola after being brought back to London for medical care.
He was treated with the experimental drug ZMapp, a medicine that has only been used in animal studies and manufactured by San Diego-based biotech firm Mapp.
A number of pharma companies are now scrambling to get new drugs ready for both experimental and approved use, including bigger pharma firms such as GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson.
Western governments have said that an outbreak in Europe and/or the US is very unlikely and stresses that should this happen, it has the infrastructure in place to deal with it.
Ben Adams
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