Sheriff Michael Monning exposed to Ebola falls ill

A DALLAS County sheriff’s deputy who had gone unprotected into the apartment where the first US Ebola patient had stayed is being screened for the deadly disease after falling ill.

Emergency responders in the Dallas suburb took the deputy to the hospital after an urgent care facility reported a patient “exhibiting signs and symptoms” of Ebola claimed to have had contact with infected patient Thomas Eric Duncan, who died of the disease in Dallas oveight.

Frisco Fire Chief Mark Piland says the deputy, Michael Monning, is being treated “out of an abundance of caution” after he exhibited several possible symptoms of Ebola.

“He had several, but not all five or six. He exhibited enough to trigger the preliminary screening,” Piland said.

Health officials, he said, are “treating this as a low-risk event.”

“The risk is minimal,” Frisco Mayor Maher Maso said, but the city is “taking all precautions.”

Exposed ... Sgt. Michael Monning accompanied county health officials Zachary Thompson and Christopher Perkins into the apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan stayed in Dallas. Pic: WFAA-TV FRISCO Source: Supplied

State health officials say there’s no indication Monning had any direct contact with Duncan but he did have “some contact” with Duncan’s family members, according to CNN.

Piland says the deputy entered the apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan had been staying and had contact with some members of the family Duncan has stayed with.

Sgt Monning was at the home to deliver a quarantine order to family members, reports the Daily Mail, and wasn’t wearing protective clothing or a mask.

A possible Ebola patient, believed to be Dallas County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Monnig, is brought to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Wednesday in Dallas, Texas

 

The sheriff's deputy arrives at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital today via ambulance after attending an urgent-care clinic with symptoms