The first confirmed Ebola patient in the United States took a turn for the worse this weekend, the director of the Centers for Disease Control said Sunday.

Dr. Thomas R. Frieden told reporters Sunday that Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian citizen, is "quite critical," and that his situation "has taken a turn for the worse."

Frieden also attempted to assuage fears of a US Ebola outbreak. Although Duncan reportedly came into contact with at least 80 people, Frieden said on Meet the Press Sunday that cases will likely be isolated in America.

"It's not going to spread widely in the U.S. for two basic reasons. We can do infection control in hospitals and we can do public health interventions that stop it in its tracks," he said, a point echoed in the Washington Post's take on the factors that led to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Officials also announced this weekend that they had located a homeless man who rode in the ambulance used to take Duncan to the hospital. According to the New York Times, the man, who was asymptomatic on Saturday, attempted to go into hiding before he was relocated.

And should Duncan survive the Ebola virus, he's likely to face severe legal repercussions. Liberia has already announced plans to prosecute him for lying on his exit visa, and the Dallas County DA told the Times the office is currently debating whether to charge him with some sort of aggravated assault charge.

[image via AP]