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Ebola patient arrived at ER with 103-degree fever

This Friday, Oct. 10, 2014 photo shows a copy of Thomas Eric Duncan's medical records from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, provided by Duncan’s family to The Associated Press. The records encompass his time in the emergency room, his urgent return to the hospital two days later and a chronicle of his steep decline as his organs began to fail. Duncan carried the deadly Ebola virus with him from his home in Liberia, though he showed no symptoms when he left for the United States. He arrived in Dallas on Sept. 20 and fell ill several days later. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)
This Friday, Oct. 10, 2014 photo shows a copy of Thomas Eric Duncan's medical records from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, provided by Duncan’s family to The Associated Press. The records encompass his time in the emergency room, his urgent return to the hospital two days later and a chronicle of his steep decline as his organs began to fail. Duncan carried the deadly Ebola virus with him from his home in Liberia, though he showed no symptoms when he left for the United States. He arrived in Dallas on Sept. 20 and fell ill several days later. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato) This Friday, Oct. 10, 2014 photo shows a copy of Thomas Eric Duncan's medical records from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, provided by Duncan’s family to The Associated Press. The records encompass his time in the emergency room, his urgent return to the hospital two days later and a chronicle of his steep decline as his organs began to fail. Duncan carried the deadly Ebola virus with him from his home in Liberia, though he showed no symptoms when he left for the United States. He arrived in Dallas on Sept. 20 and fell ill several days later. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

By Associated Press 1 min read

DALLAS (AP) – Thomas Eric Duncan’s temperature spiked to 103 degrees during the hours of his initial visit to an emergency room – a fever so serious that it was flagged with an exclamation point in the hospital’s record-keeping system.

Medical records provided to The Associated Press show that the man who would become the only person to die from Ebola in the U.S. was eventually sent home, despite the fever and other symptoms consistent with the disease, and despite telling a nurse that he had recently been in Africa.

Duncan’s family provided his medical records to The Associated Press – more than 1,400 pages in all.

Neither a spokesman for Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nor a doctor who evaluated Duncan immediately responded to messages left by AP on Friday.