Thomas Duncan (the guy with Ebola) Had Contact with Victim in Liberia

The press reports Thomas Duncan had contact with an Ebola patient in Liberia before he flew to Dallas. He knew the person was sick, lied to airport authorities to get on the plane.

From the Wall Stree Journal:

MONROVIA, Liberia—Before the first man diagnosed in the U.S. with Ebola landed in Texas, he escorted a woman to a treatment ward in Liberia's capital where she was turned away and died of the virus within hours, even as their neighbors blocked local health workers from surveying for the disease.

Liberian Shanty (from mirro.unhabita.org)

The journey of Thomas Eric Duncan from a neighborhood of tin-roof houses in a West African capital to an isolation ward of a Dallas hospital is a story of how misunderstanding, fear and suspicion helped spread the disease across five African countries and now, to the shores of the U.S.

On Sept. 16, several health workers arrived in Mr. Duncan's neighborhood in Monrovia to investigate a report that a pregnant 18-year-old woman, recently sent home from a nearby clinic, had shown Ebola symptoms that included a fever, vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding, said Prince Toe and other members of the Ebola Response Team in the capital's 72nd community.

But when the team arrived in the neighborhood, residents insisted the pregnant teenager had been in a car accident, said Mr. Toe, the unit's supervisor. When the neighbors grew rowdy at being pressed for information, the team turned back, he said.

Soon after returning later that day to the one-room home he rented from the teenager's mother, Mr. Duncan accompanied the girl, known as Ms. Williams, in a taxi to an Ebola ward. When they were told the ward was full, the two went home, said Irene Seyou, Mr. Duncan's next-door neighbor.

When they came back to the neighborhood, Mr. Duncan lifted Ms. Williams by her legs from the taxi, Ms. Seyou said. Hours later, Ms. Williams died. Blood trickled from both sides of her mouth as one of her neighbors, Mark Kputo, 23, carried away her body, protected only by a pair of gloves. "I and her were best of friends," he said.

The next day, the health workers, known as contact tracers, returned to the 72nd community, now certain they were dealing with another Ebola case. But again, they were greeted with suspicion and hostility—this time from neighbors as they gathered to pay their respects to Ms. Williams's family. The crowd insisted she had died of low blood pressure, Mr. Toe said.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/man-in-dallas-diagnosed-with-ebola-had-contact-with-victim-in-liberia-1412266878