Texas Ebola Patient Dies

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Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas (Image credit: Texas Health Resources)

Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who was being treated for Ebola in Texas, died today, according to Texas Health Resources.

"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 a.m.," the hospital representatives said in a statement. "He fought courageously in this battle."

Duncan developed symptoms on Sept. 24, four days after arriving in Texas from Liberia. He went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sept. 26 but was sent home. Two days later, he returned to the hospital and was put in an isolation unit to receive treatment.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed on Sept. 30 that Duncan was infected with Ebola.

Duncan was the first patient with Ebola diagnosed in the United States. The 42-year-old was a driver at a cargo company in Monrovia, the Liberian capital, according to The New York Times. 

Four days before he left Liberia to come to the United States, Duncan helped a pregnant neighbor who was strickern with Ebola seek medical care, according to news reports. The woman died from Ebola shortly afterwards, and her brother also died from the disease within days.

The ongoing Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has sickened more than 7,400 people since it began in early 2014. More than 3,400 of the patients have died, according to the World Health Organization. [5 Things You Should Know About Ebola]

Email Bahar Gholipour. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science.

Bahar Gholipour
Bahar Gholipour
Staff Writer
Bahar Gholipour is a staff reporter for Live Science covering neuroscience, odd medical cases and all things health. She holds a Master of Science degree in neuroscience from the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris, and has done graduate-level work in science journalism at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She has worked as a research assistant at the Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives at ENS.