Mayor: Ebola patient may have had contact with 20 people

The first person to be diagnosed with Ebola on American soil went to the emergency room last week, but was released from the hospital even though he told staff he had traveled from Liberia.

The patient identified as Thomas Eric Duncan, a 42-year-old Liberian national, went to Texas Health Presbyterian hospital with a fever and told hospital workers he had just arrived from West Africa, the center of the Ebola outbreak, but somehow doctors gave him an antibiotic and pain reliever and sent him home.

Duncan was not in isolation for three days. He was finally diagnosed five days after his first symptoms developed.

Doctors tell CNN he is now listed in serious condition.

In an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings says the patient may have come into contact with up to 20 individuals.