DALLAS (REUTERS) - Some school-age children have come in contact with the first patient diagnosed with the deadly Ebola virus in the United States, Texas Governor Rick Perry said on Wednesday.

Perry said at a news conference that he was confident the virus would be contained, a day after U.S. health officials said a man who recently travelled from Liberia to Texas had been diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas.

A Texas health official said the chance of Ebola spreading in the state was "very small".