The hospital's explanation
The virus that causes Ebola is not airborne and can only be spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids — blood, sweat, vomit, feces, urine, saliva or semen — of an infected person who is showing symptoms.
Duncan arrived in Dallas on Sept. 20 and fell ill a few days later. After an initial visit to the emergency room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, he was sent home. He returned to the hospital two days later, last Sunday, and has been kept in isolation ever since.
The hospital's explanation about what they knew about his travel history has changed in the time since his diagnosis was revealed on Tuesday. Federal health officials have advised hospitals to take a travel history for patients with any Ebola-like symptoms.
When Duncan's diagnosis was first disclosed, the hospital said it wasn't till he came back Sunday that they discovered he had been in West Africa. The hospital later acknowledged that Duncan had told a nurse his travel history on his first visit but said the information hadn't been fully communicated to the whole team.
