The Ebola death toll is rising in Liberia, specifically in the neighborhood where Thomas Eric Duncan lived.  Local health workers estimate there are 100 more suspected cases in Monrovia, which have ballooned since the first American case came in contact with an infected pregnant woman.

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According to a CNN correspondent, all of Duncan's former neighbors were quarantined. At least nine of them are either dead or in critical condition.  As of writing, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded 2,069 deaths in Liberia alone out of 3,400 in total worldwide.

Duncan is currently being treated with the experimental medicine brincidofovir at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.  CDC Director Thomas Frieden initially reported that the lone identified case in America will not be able to receive ZMapp due to unavailability of supply.

Brincidofovir is an oral antiviral drug used to fight common viruses and is also administered to patients undergoing bone marrow transplants.  It is manufactured by North Carolina-based pharmaceutical Chimerix Inc. and remains unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Investigations revealed that Duncan contracted Ebola when he came to help Marthalene Williams during her seventh month pregnancy.  William's parents were not aware that she is an active host of the virus until Duncan was diagnosed upon his arrival in Dallas.

Meanwhile, Texas Governnor Rick Perry appealed to health workers to intensify pre-diagnosis of the disease to avoid mistakes.  Dallas County official Clay Jenkins also said that authorities need to hasten the processes for more effective containment of the virus.

Jenkins told CBS that public fear is one of the biggest challenges in overcoming the epidemic. 

"Because people are so afraid of Ebola, finding people to clean, to dispose of it, getting permits from state and federal agencies.  [It] was arduous and is way too long and we got to speed it up," he said. 

TagsThomas Eric Duncan, ebola virus update, what is ebola, ebola outbreak in Liberia