Ebola Outbreak 2014 News Update: First Confirmed Case of Ebola in New York
The doctor suffering symptoms of the Ebola virus was rushed to a New York hospital on Thursday.
He was identified as Dr. Craig Spencer, who works with Doctors Without Borders, according to the New York Daily News. He was confirmed with Ebola.
Spencer was a medic working in Guinea but has been back in the United States for 10 days. He quarantined himself after developing a high fever, said the Daily News.
"Today, EMS HAZ TAC Units transferred to Bellevue Hospital a patient who presented a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms," Bellevue Hospital administrators said in a statement. "The patient is a health care worker who returned to the U.S. within the past 21 days from one of the three countries currently facing the outbreak of this virus."
The statement went on to say the patient was transported in protective equipment, and the hospital along with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene "has decided to conduct a test for the Ebola virus because of this patient's recent travel history, pattern of symptoms, and past work."
"We're aware of the case and we're working with the New York City health department," a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.
The patient is also being evaluated for other illnesses, as well, as his symptoms can also be consistent with salmonella, malaria or the stomach flu.
Bellevue Hospital said disease detectives are trying to trace all of the patient's contacts to identify anyone who may be at potential risk. His apartment in Spanish Harlem is sealed off. Authorities are going to decide whether to evacuate the apartment building, reported Reuters.
Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan's midtown has been designated for the identification and treatment of Ebola patients by the City and State.
Hospital administrators said that "the chances of the average New Yorker contacting Ebola are extremely slim. Ebola is spread by directly touching the bodily fluids of an infected person."
New York's John F. Kennedy airport was the first American airport to start conducting screenings of passengers coming from the three countries stricken by the Ebola virus -- Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Passengers are asked questions about potential exposure to Ebola, and have their temperature taken.
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