Texas health officials have placed
the Dallas family of a Liberian national infected with Ebola under quarantine
and ordered them not to leave their home or have any contact with outsiders for
21 days without approval of the local or state health department.
The "control order" also
requires the family of Thomas Eric Duncan to be available to provide blood
samples and agree to any testing required by public health officials.
Thomas Eric Duncan (from Google)
Officials said Thursday that the
four or five family members could face criminal charges for violating the
order, which was delivered to them in writing Wednesday evening.
Duncan, who is in serious condition
with Ebola at Texas Health Presybyterian Hospital, recently arrived in the
United States from Liberia.
Ebola has infected 7,178 people and
has killed 3,338 in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal and Nigeria, the
World Health Organization says. The outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal — which
took swift, decisive action to control the virus — are likely over.
In other countries, however, the
number of cases has been doubling every three weeks, and the CDC estimates that
the disease could affect up to 1.4 million people by January if it's not
quickly controlled.
Liberian authorities, meanwhile,
said on Thursday that they will prosecute Duncan when he returns home for
allegedly lying on his airport departure screening questionnaire about having
had contact with an infected person.
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