Kerry urges nations to act fast as Liberian Ebola victim dies in US

The Liberian man infected by Ebola in the first diagnosed case in the United States died yesterday. The announcement of his death coincided with the US secretary of state John Kerry calling on countries to "step up" the fight against the lethal disease.

Thomas Eric Duncan (42) died at 7.51am (1.51am Irish time) yesterday at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas just over a week after the virus was detected. He had been in critical condition and the day before he died was on life support with assistance from a ventilator and a dialysis machine

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When it looked as if everything else had failed, doctors even used an experimental drug called brincidofovir to treat him. “He fought courageously in this battle,” the hospital said.

The Texas department of health said in a statement that the past week “has been an enormous test for our health system, but for one family it has been far more personal”.

Just hours after Mr Duncan's death, Mr Kerry urged nations to make more money, equipment and personnel available to stem the spread of Ebola which the World Health Organisation say has killed more than 3,000 people in Africa.

Describing Ebola as an “urgent global crisis”, America’s top diplomat said: “There are additional needs that have to be met in order for the global community to properly respond to this challenge and to make sure that we protect people in all of our countries.”

Speaking with British foreign secretary Philip Hammond, Mr Kerry added that "now is the time for action, not words, and frankly there is no time to waste in this effort".

The UK announced that it is to send more than 750 personnel, an aviation support ship and three helicopters to Sierra Leone next week to help in the fight to contain the disease.

The White House said that travellers from west African countries most affected by Ebola will be subjected to additional screening in a separate area at five of the biggest US airports including John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, O'Hare International Airport in Chicago and Dulles International Airport near Washington. As the international response escalated, Spain's prime minister Mariano Rajoy defended his government's handling of the first Ebola case to be diagnosed in western Europe as the country's health officials started examining how a nursing assistant contracted the disease.

Teresa Romero Ramos (44) was found to have Ebola on Monday as health officials said they suspected she became infected after tending to a Spanish missionary who died last month at a hospital in Madrid.

Dr German Ramirez said that Ms Ramos, who is being held in isolation in Carlos III hospital, may accidentally have touched her own face with protective gloves she was wearing to treat the priest.

Madrid’s regional government plan to kill the nursing assistant’s pet dog because of the risk that the animal could transmit the disease, despite the family objecting with a court order.