EXCLUSIVE - 'America sent Ebola to Africa to punish us... then left my brother to die like a dog': Thomas Eric Duncan's sister launches extraordinary attack on brave U.S. medics
- Mary Pearson has spoken of her disgust at how her brother was treated
- 52-year-old believes conspiracy theory that Ebola was created in U.S. lab
- 'They sent the virus and infected people here... then blamed Liberians'
- Family of Thomas Eric agree settlement deal with Dallas hospital today
America invented the Ebola virus to 'kill Africans' and deliberately left victim Thomas Eric Duncan to die 'like a dog' in revenge for bringing the disease into the U.S, his sister claimed today.
In an extraordinary interview with MailOnline, grieving Mary Pearson claimed that the deadly virus was created as part of an experiment to infect black people on the continent - echoing the views of a race-hate preacher who says Ebola was invented to 'depopulate' Africa.
Mrs Pearson, 52, who runs a general store in Liberian capital Monrovia, said: 'What we heard is that Ebola was created by the Americans and they sent it to kill us.
'You are the ones that sent it to kill us. They sent the virus and infected people here.Then they blamed Liberians for Ebola. They killed that boy for nothing.'
Thomas Eric Duncan died in Dallas on October 8 after flying to the US from Liberia three weeks earlier. He was infected when he helped a pregnant neighbour seek hospital treatment.
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'He died like a dog': Mary Pearson, 52, sister of Thomas Eric Duncan, who became the first US victim of Ebola. She believes he was allowed to die in revenge for bringing the virus to America
'Treated badly': Thomas Eric Duncan, who died in Ebola, was cared for at the Texas Presbyterian Hospital but his sister believes he was deliberately mistreated
Conspiracy theory: Mary Pearson believes rumours that Ebola was created in a U.S. lab and 'sent to Africa' are true
Mrs Pearson insisted that her brother did not receive the same level of care as American citizens who had contracted the disease and were taken back to the US for treatment.
It comes as the Texas Presbyterian Hospital accused of failing in his care was forced to settle with Mr Duncan's family in a secret deal.
Of the nine people who have been treated for Ebola in the U.S., only Duncan has died and his nephew Josephus Weeks said: 'We begged. We pleaded. I even offered my own blood, even though it wouldn't do anything for him. We requested everything we could think of to save Eric. They said no.'
Mrs Pearson said: 'Eric suffered in exile and it really hurts me.They didn't feel sorry for him. They didn't give him drugs. They had the means to treat him but they treated him like a dog.
'They are wicked. They didn't treat him because they said he brought Ebola to America.'
Duncan was infected on October 15 when he went to help out a pregnant neighbour, Marthaline Williams, 19, who was sick and needed to get to hospital. There was no ambulance available so Duncan loaded her into a taxi and took her himself.
Williams died from Ebola the following day. On 19 September, Duncan flew to the US to join his family there.
Now, as she dwells on the memories of her brother, Mrs Pearson said she is concerned at spreading conspiracy theories in Liberia that the virus was created by the U.S.
She said she gave credence to the rumours because of how her brother was treated after he arrived in America.
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has made wild claims that the virus was designed by white scientists specifically to kill off black people - conspiracy theories repeated by villagers in parts of the country.
A distrust of Western medicine and belief in faith healers have seen locals ignore attempts at isolating infected patients.
The 81-year-old, who has previously made similar claims about Aids, wrote: 'There is a weapon that can be put in a room where there are black and white people, and it will kill only the black and spare the white, because it is a genotype weapon that is designed for your genes, for your race, for your kind.'
Fearful with grief: Mary Pearson, sister of Thomas Eric Duncan, in the general store she runs in the 72nd SKD Boulevard area of
Monrovia, Liberia. He died in the US in October from Ebola
Previous life: The former home of Eric Thomas Duncan in 72nd SKD Boulevard, Monrovia, Liberia. After leaving here he developed
Ebola and died in the U.S. in October
Disinfected: A new family now inhabits the former home of Thomas Eric Duncan in 72nd SKD Boulevard, Monrovia, Liberia. He died in
the US in October from Ebola
Standing empty: The house (left) of Ebola victim Marthaline Williams, 19, in Monrovia. Liberia. Neighbour Thomas Eric Duncan helped her when she fell ill, developed the virus himself and subsequently died of Ebola in the US in October
Mrs Pearson's fears are fuelled by the fact that he was apparently well when he left Africa, as his symptoms had not yet started to develop.
'I hugged him and I was ruffling his hair because he was always cleaning his hair,' said Mrs Pearson.
'He was happy. We were all happy that day. His son had sent for him and he was going to America to see him.'
Duncan worked as a driver for a firm which contracted for FedEx. He had left the job a couple of weeks earlier, said Pearson, after an accident when he cut his knee.
When he arrived in the US he called home to say all was well.
'He said pray for me,' she said. But he gave no reason for asking for their prayers and she did not ask.
They first heard he was ill on October 1. 'We didn't hear from him until we heard that someone from here had tested positive for Ebola. Then someone called from FedEx to say that he was sick. I was feeling bad. I called my sister. He couldn't talk himself.'
Duncan presented himself for treatment at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on September 25.
Despite a high temperature, he was sent home after tests.
Three days later he was back, this time transported to the hospital by ambulance. His condition had deteriorated. This time he was tested for Ebola and the results came back positive the next day. He died on October 8.
Although they had been in close contact with him, the family knew that Ebola was not contagious until the symptoms start to show.
'We knew that he didn't have the sickness here so we felt that we were OK,' she said.
'But he had interacted with everyone so we imposed a quarantine on ourselves. No-one official came to do anything.
They started to hear that other neighbours who had helped the Williams family had also died.
'The pastor contracted the virus and died and his wife died and the pastor's son and another lady, Marie, she died too. Plenty people died. More than eight people.'
Everyone knew Duncan was their relative and everyone was afraid of them, she said.
'In the first place no-one would come to my shop. But then my daughter said to reopen the shop. People started to come, but one at a time, because they were afraid. it was not until 21 days had gone [the length of the quarantine period] that they started to come back properly.'
Anger at the hospital: Nowai Korkoyah, the mother of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient diagnosed with Ebola on U.S. soil, pictured
with Reverend Jesse Jackson (left) in Dallas, Texas just before her son died
Compensation: Nowai korkoyah, Thomas Eric Duncan's mother, is supported by Rev. Jesse Jackson in Dallas. The family have now
agreed a settlement with Texas Presbyterian Hospital
Accused: Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas where Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient diagnosed in the U.S. was
treated amid claims he did not receive the best care
Duncan's neighbours described him as a Good Samaritan who had not hesitated to help his landlord's daughter. They lived alongside him for another couple of days before he travelled to the US, but they were saved because he was not contagious at that time.
The room remains locked. No-one has been to spray it. Several people died in the neighbouring house. Those who were not infected say God saved them.
'Before he left here he was not ill. He helped a girl who was sick, he helped her and took her to the hospital,' said neighbour Irene Seyou, 31, who lived next door to Duncan in the 72nd SKD Boulevard district of Monrovia.
The girl he helped, Marthaline Williams, was the daughter of Duncan's landlord. She lived in a green painted house with a rusty iron roof across from the two room shack that Duncan called home.
The door is locked - the landlord has been unable to rent the property out since - but Seyou says it is the same inside as her house: one room at the back, a smaller one at the front and a small bathroom. There is a sit-out in front.
On 15 September her family tried to find an ambulance to take her to hospital, but none would come. So Duncan helped bundle her into a taxi and took her himself. In doing so, he came into contact with the virus and became infected.
Warning: A boy looks at the bucket of chlorinated water outside ahouse in the slum of Clara Town, Monrovia, Liberia, where there are concerns that residents are ignoring requests to wash their hands
No lockdown: A woman sweeps the street in the Clara Town slum in Monrovia, Liberia. A resident fell sick with suspected Ebola and was removed and taken away by ambulance on 7 November but residents have been quarantined
But the symptoms of Ebola can take up to 21 days to show themselves, and Duncan was apparently unaware that he was infected. Certainly, when he left Monrovia, he did not inform airport officials that he had been in contact with an Ebola sufferer.
Williams died on September 16 and Duncan flew three days later. 'It was Ebola but we didn't know,' Seyou said. 'She was convulsing and bleeding. But when she was sick her mother said she was biting her mouth and that's where the blood was coming from.
'They decided to take her to a hospital but there was none to help move her and there was no vehicle. Eric went to find a car and took her to the hospital and that's when she touched him.'
The family went with him to the airport to see him off. He was looking forward to the trip and to seeing his partner.
Back in Liberia, other members of the Williams family were beginning to die. Her mother died on October 1, then her cousin and an uncle's wife. Others fell sick.
They had the means to treat him but they treated him like a dog.'They are wicked. They didn't treat him because they said he brought Ebola to America.
Mary Pearson
'That's when we really got to know it was Ebola,' said Seyou.
'Everyone in the area was kept in quarantine. We were afraid, the feeling was that we all had Ebola.'
'They wouldn't let us even go to the road. We were all afraid because the girl was sick and we used to visit them in the house.'
The neighbours had also been in close contact with Duncan, but escaped infection because he travelled to the US so soon after becoming contaminated because Ebola is only contagious when the patient is showing symptoms.
'He didn't have a wife here so we were doing everything for him,' she said. 'He was a friendly man. When he got paid he would buy things for us. He as a kind man. We all lived here as one family.'
She only found out that he was dead when informed by journalists.
'No-one else fell sick after that. God kept us alive.'
At the Williams house, a man in a red vest top was leaning on the wall next to a red bucket of chlorinated water bearing the label 'Ebola is Real Stay Safe'.
He said he was just visiting someone who lived there and was waiting for them to return. The neighbours said that he was the landlord. He declined to talk any further.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
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