Second Person Rushed To Hospital With Ebola Symptoms

Louise Boyle

10/9/2014

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A Dallas County sheriff’s deputy has been hospitalized today with Ebola symptoms, a week after he went unprotected into the apartment of first patient Thomas Duncan.

Sgt Michael Monnig went on Wednesday to an urgent-care facility in Frisco, Texas with his wife, after complaining of stomach problems.

The deputy presented at the clinic a week after he visited the Dallas home where Duncan was staying when he developed Ebola symptoms. Sgt Monnig was at the home to deliver a quarantine order to family members.

Neither Sgt Monnig, nor the other two health officials, Zachary Thompson and Christopher Perkins with him, were wearing protective clothing or masks despite being in the apartment as cleaning crews were going about their work in full protective gear.

The day after going into the apartment, Monnig and his fellow officers were told to bag up the clothes they’d been wearing. Their police cars were also taken out of commission.

‘That starts putting question marks in your mind,’ Monnig told WFAA in an October 3 report. ‘You know when you go home and then the next day you start hearing that equipment is being quarantined or asked to be bagged up, that you had on or were driving.

‘Then your question is, “well, what about me?” And so those were the questions that were raised.’

Now the question is: Why wasn’t Monnig warned before entering the home completely without protection?

‘There should be some kind of protocols as far as what kind of a response we’re going to have and what kind of safety equipment we’re going to have,’ Christopher Dyer, president of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Association, said in the WFAA interview. ‘Those kinds of things didn’t happen.’

Monnig’s wife Lisa echoed his sentiment.

‘It was pretty scary,’ Lisa Monnig said about the day her husband entered the apartment. ‘I was awake until he got home that night.’

No doubt Monnig is now feeling that pit in her stomach again as she and her family are forced to wait out the next two days it will take to determine whether Monnig managed to catch the dreaded virus.

Mr Duncan, 42, died on Wednesday morning at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, two weeks after developing symptoms of the virus.

Sgt Monnig told medics at the Frisco clinic today that he had been in contact with first victim Mr Duncan and had not been wearing protective clothing.

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The CareNow clinic was immediately placed in lock-down because Monnig was exhibiting signs of the deadly virus – including feeling sick and appearing flushed with a fever. 

The CDC told MailOnline today that the person is not one of the 48 contacts being monitored, and there is no indication of any direct contact with the initial patient, Mr Duncan.

None of the 48 individuals with verified or possible contact with the patient has shown symptoms, the CDC said today.

Sgt Monnig’s son, Logan Monnig, told CBS that his father had woken up with ‘stomach issues’ and had gone to the clinic as a precaution.

Logan said family were told by the CDC that their father was not at risk of the virus, as he had only been in the apartment for 30 minutes and had not come in contact with bodily fluids.

‘We are not expecting him to’ test positive for Ebola, said Logan.

A father who had taken his teenage son to the clinic to get a flu shot on Wednesday told WFAA that the man entered the clinic with his wife, appeared flushed and was hunched over.

Chuck Moreno said that he and his son had self-quarantined in an exam room, put on surgical masks and sprayed themselves with disinfectant.  

Sgt Monnig answered yes in a screening questionnaire to a question about travel to West Africa and is said to have contact with Duncan, referred to as ‘patient zero’.

The Frisco patient was rushed to Texas Health Presbyterian Hosptial by ambulance after turning up at the urgent care clinic on Main Street.

Medics at the clinic called 911 at around 12.30pm to request an ambulance for the patient. A team in hazmat suits and face masks transported the law enforcement officer.

A hospital spokesman said: ‘Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas can confirm today that a patient has been admitted to the Emergency Room after reporting possible exposure to the Ebola virus.

‘Right now, there are more questions than answers about this case. Our professional staff of nurses and doctors is prepared to examine the patient, discuss any findings with appropriate agencies and officials.

‘We are on alert with precautions and systems in place. At the same time, we are caring for routine cases which are completely separate in operations.’ 

The clinic was keeping everyone at the center until they are checked out by the CDC – it is unknown how many people were exposed to the patient.

All those at the clinic will be transferred to a hospital but it is unclear which medical facility.

While no doubt in a fearful and nearvous state now, Mr. Monnig’s career has often hinged largely on his physical toughness, even more so than most cops.

The large-framed Monnig once worked as a sort of human punching bag for incoming Dallas County police recruits who learned how to use batons by beating Monnig.

At least that was his job until 2008, when Monnig was temporarily terminated from the police force after getting seriously injured during one of his brutal training sessions.

He was unable to work in active duty and the force was apparently not interested in giving him a desk job.

‘Your job is basically to get beaten up by recruits,’ CBS DFW said in a 2008 interview about his firing.

‘Part of it is,’ he replied. ‘I want it to be as realistic as possible.’

Thanks in part to the 2008 broadcast, Monnig was rehired by the force.

Mr Duncan, a 42-year-old Liberian national, exposed nearly 50 people to the disease in America before he was put in isolation at Texas Presbyterian.

His fiancee Louise Troh is currently in quarantine with her 13-year-old son and two nephews and under constant monitoring by health officials over fears that they, too, could develop symptoms during a 21-day incubation period.

Ten people, including seven healthcare workers and three family members, are considered at high risk for Ebola after they were exposed to Duncan after he became contagious.

Another 38 more are being monitors by the CDC for possible risk of the disease.

Duncan’s fiancee Louise Troh, who is perhaps highest at risk of catching the disease after she cared for him at her Dallas apartment while he sweated and vomited through the early staged of the disease, says she does not blame him for possibly exposing her.

The White House said on Wednesday that extra screening for fever will be carried out for arriving aircraft passengers from West Africa, where the virus has killed nearly 4,000 people in three countries.