Texas authorities find missing homeless man with possible Ebola exposure

A "low risk individual" who went "missing" after possible exposure to the Ebola virus has been found, said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins on Sunday.

Authorities in Texas have found a missing homeless man who may have been exposed to the deadly Ebola virus, said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins on Sunday, reports NBC News.

Authorities had been searching for a “low-risk individual” who was a contact of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first U.S. Ebola patient, said Jenkins at a news conference Sunday.

The authorities had been “working to locate the individual and get him to a comfortable, compassionate place where we can monitor him and care for his every need for the full incubation period,” said Jenkins, noting that the man “has not committed a crime.”

The individual was last monitored on Saturday, but then went “missing,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC is receiving hundreds of calls daily about Ebola, as doctors are treating Duncan at a Dallas hospital, said Frieden, at the same news conference. The agency is receiving about 800 Ebola phone calls a day— a sharp increase from 50 a day, said Frieden.

He had “no doubt” the U.S. would stop Ebola “in its tracks” in Texas, said Frieden. He did note Duncan “has taken a turn for the worse,” and was in critical condition Saturday.

Experimental medicine that has helped other American Ebola patients is not being used on Duncan, “as far as we understand,” said Frieden.

ZMapp is the most promising drug, but, “there’s no more of it, and it’s hard to make, it takes months to make just a bit,” said Frieden on “Meet The Press.”

Officials have assessed 114 people suspected of having had contact with Duncan, and found that 66 of them did not. Ten people have been identified who appeared to have had contact with Duncan — seven healthcare workers and three “family or community contacts,” said the CDC director.

The 38 people officials “could not rule out,” would be tracked for 21 days to see if they come down with fevers, said Frieden.

Texas has not had any additional cases of Ebola since Duncan was diagnosed, and no one else has reported any virus symptoms, said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Service.