Ebola patient's relatives confined to Texas home under armed guard

Nomaan Merchant and David Warren, The Associated Press Published Thursday, October 2, 2014 9:44AM EDT Last Updated Thursday, October 2, 2014 10:55PM EDT

DALLAS -- Four members of a family the U.S. Ebola patient was staying with were confined to their Texas home under armed guard Thursday as the circle of people possibly exposed to the virus widened, while Liberian authorities said they would prosecute the man for allegedly lying on an airport questionnaire.

The unusual confinement order was imposed after the family failed to comply with a request not to leave their apartment, according to Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

Texas State Health Commissioner David Lakey said the order would help ensure the four can be closely watched, including checking them for fevers over the next three weeks.

"We didn't have the confidence we would have been able to monitor them the way that we needed to," he said.

The family will not be allowed to receive visitors, officials said.

The case has raised questions about whether a disease that has killed 3,300 people in West Africa could spread in the United States. U.S. health officials say they remain confident they can keep it in check.

A woman who lives in the apartment, Louise Troh, said she has been quarantined with her 13-year-old son and two nephews.

"Who wants to be locked up?" she said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Troh said she was waiting for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to collect a bag of the bed sheets and towels Thomas Eric Duncan used.

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Ebola patient's relatives confined to Texas home under armed guard