Mmarekani mwenye ebola amuudhi Rais

Liberian authorities say they plan to prosecute Thomas Eric Duncan for bringing Ebola into America.

 (CNN) -- 

Days before he became the first person diagnosed with Ebola on American soil, Thomas Eric Duncan answered "no" to questions about whether he had cared for a patient with the deadly virus.

Before leaving Liberia, Duncan also answered no to a question about whether he had touched the body of someone who died in an area affected by the disease, said Binyah Kesselly, board chairman of the Liberia Airport Authority.

Witnesses say Duncan had been helping Ebola patients in Liberia. Liberian community leader Tugbeh Chieh Tugbeh said Duncan was caring for an Ebola-infected patient at a residence in Paynesville City, just outside Monrovia.

  Law enforcement officers stand guard outside the The Ivy Apartments in Texas, where the confirmed Ebola virus patient was staying.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told Canadian public broadcaster CBC on Thursday that she would consult with lawyers to decide what to do with Duncan when he returns home.

"The fact that he knew (he was exposed to the virus) and he left the country is unpardonable, quite frankly," Johnson Sirleaf told CBC. "I just hope that nobody else gets infected."

"With the U.S. doing so much to help us fight Ebola, and again one of our compatriots didn't take due care, and so, he's gone there and ... put some Americans in a state of fear, and put them at some risk, and so I feel very saddened by that and very angry with him, to tell you the truth."

A health worker pushes a girl believed to have Ebola to a treatment centre in Monrovia, Liberia, in a wheelbarrow.

Duncan's family said he hadn't mentioned any exposure to Ebola in Liberia.

His girlfriend says he told her he hadn't been in contact with anyone with Ebola. 

Wilfred Smallwood, Duncan's half-brother, said Thursday that he doesn't believe Duncan knew he had Ebola when he left Liberia for the United States. But he said it isn't out of the ordinary to come to the assistance of suffering people.

 On September 19, Mr Duncan answered no to a series of questions about his health and activities before leaving his disease-ravaged home for Dallas.

The form asked whether Mr Duncan had cared for an Ebola patient or touched the body of anyone who had died in an area affected by Ebola.

“We expect people to do the honourable thing,” said Binyah Kesselly, chairman of the board of directors of the Liberia Airport Authority in Monrovia. The agency obtained permission from the Ministry of Justice to pursue the matter.

CNN