Infected With Ebola – What Would You Do?

Eric Duncan, the patient who died this morning in a Dallas hospital was identified as the first person to have been diagnosed with Ebola on US soil.  Before he flew back to America from Liberia, he was asked by airport officials about his possible exposure to Ebola, he apparently did not report an incident involving a friend of his who had the virus.

Likely, he did this with the hope of receiving better medical care in the US, should he later come down sick.

So, we asked our listeners this morning, if it was your life... would you do the same?

Here is a timeline of Eric's trip from Liberia to Dallas -

~September 15 - Eric Duncan contracts the virus while helping a friend who was seven-months pregnant and convulsing blood, get to a hospital in Liberia. She is turned away from four hospitals and died hours later.

~September 19 - Mr. Duncan leaves on Airlines Flight 1247 to BBelgium. He then takes United Airlines Flight 951 from Brussels, outside Washington, DC.

~September 20 - Mr. Duncan flies on United Flight 822 to Dallas. At the time, he is not yet showing symptoms of the disease and is not believed to be contagious.

~September 24 - Mr. Duncan begins to show symptoms of Ebola.

~September 26 - Mr. Duncan goes to Texas Hospital. He tells several staff members that he recently traveled from Liberia, but that information is not passed along. He is prescribed antibiotics and sent home.

~September 28 - Dallas Fire and Rescue dispatch an ambulance to pick up Mr. Duncan from an apartment complex in Dallas. He is taken to the same Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.

~September 30 - Tests confirm that Mr. Duncan has Ebola. The CDC and state officials call a news conference.

~October 1 - Ambulance workers test negative for Ebola and are sent home to be monitored for 21 days. It is reported that five children in four different schools may have had contact with Mr. Duncan. Schools are later cleaned.

~October 2 - The CDC reports that they are monitoring 100 people who may have had contact with Duncan or his relatives. United Airlines attempt to notify as many as 400 people that they were on flights with Mr. Duncan and referring them to the CDC for guidance.

Mr. Duncan was given experimental drugs that unfortunately were unable to help his condition.  Eric Duncan passed away this morning.

The mortality rate can vary between 50% and 90%.

The current strain ravaging Africa has a mortality rate of approximately 60%.

What would you do?  Get on the plane?