In the latest indication, state and local authorities confirmed Thursday that a week after a Liberian man fell ill with Ebola in Dallas, and four days after he was placed in isolation at a hospital here, the apartment where he was staying with four other people had not been sanitized and the sheets and dirty towels he used while sick remained in the home. County officials visited the apartment without protection Wednesday night.
The officials said it had been difficult to find a contractor willing to enter the apartment to clean it and remove bedding and clothes, which they said had been bagged in plastic. They said they now had hired a firm that would do the work soon. The Texas health commissioner, Dr. David Lakey, told reporters during an afternoon news conference that officials had encountered “a little bit of hesitancy” in seeking a firm to clean the apartment....
The woman who spoke to CNN said Mr. Duncan had been sweating profusely and suffering from diarrhea. He also vomited in the apartment complex parking lot, according to local health officials. Like all others exposed to Mr. Duncan, who is listed in serious condition, the woman has not shown Ebola symptoms.
The failure to sanitize his sheets and towels also revealed a broader problem in handling materials possible infected with the virus. Hospitals say they face a major challenge disposing of waste generated in the care of Ebola patients because two federal agencies have issued conflicting guidance on what they should do. As a result, hospitals say, waste may pile up and they cannot get rid of it....
The four family members who are living in the apartment — the woman, one of her children and two nephews — are among a handful who have been directed by the authorities to remain in isolation, after what officials said was a failure to comply with an order to stay home. Texas health officials hand-delivered orders to residents of the apartment at the Ivy, a complex north of downtown, requiring them not to leave their home and not to allow any visitors inside until their incubation periods have passed.
◼ Ordeal at the Dallas Ebola apartment moves on as TEN patients are classified 'high risk': Quarantined family moved to a secret location after Hazmat team arrived FIVE DAYS after victim was diagnosed - Louise Boyle for MailOnline and Dan Bates For Mailonline In Dallas, Texas and Wills Robinson for MailOnline
◼ Group are said to have moved to a luxury stand-alone house
◼ An unidentified doctor is said to have donated the property
◼ Hazmat teams decontaminated apartment where Thomas Duncan stayed
◼ They collected bed sheets and blankets used by the infected man
◼ Crews discovered that Duncan had slept on every mattress in the apartment
◼ Health officials say 10 people are considered to be 'high risk' because of their contact with the infected patient
