The Liberian man who brought Ebola to the United States faces prosecution when he gets back to his home country for lying on his airport screening questionnaire, Liberian authorities said.
In a report by the Associated Press, Thomas Eric Duncan answered “no” to an airport screening question if he cared for and had physical contact with a person infected by Ebola.
According to reports, neighbors said that four days before he flew to Texas, Duncan carried an ailing 19-year old neighbor to a taxi. That neighbor later died of Ebola. They initially thought her illness was pregnancy-related.
It is unclear if Duncan knew of the woman’s sickness before he left Liberia. He seemed to be in good condition when boarding the plane and symptoms only emerged four days after he reached the U.S. Ebola can only be transmitted through contact with bodily fluids of an infected person.
“He will be prosecuted” when he returns to Liberia, said Binyah Kesselly, chairman of the board of directors of the Liberia Airport Authority.
Kesselly said he and Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American who brought the disease to Nigeria, brought “stigma” to Liberians overseas.
Health officials are now working to contain the virus, observing the family that hosted Duncan, Fox News reported. It is initially believed that at least 100 people were exposed to Duncan when he was experiencing symptoms of the disease, which was further aggregated when he was sent home by the Texas Presbyterian Hospital after complaining of flu and telling a nurse he was from West Africa.
