Patient at New York City hospital tests positive for Ebola, reports say

Oct. 8, 2014: Health care workers display protective gear, which hospital staff would wear to protect them from an Ebola virus infection, inside an isolation room as part of a media tour in the emergency department of Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, New York. (REUTERS)

 

DEVELOPING: A doctor who treated Ebola patients in West Africa has tested positive for the virus in New York City, according to multiple reports.

A health care worker who recently returned to the United States from West Africa is being tested at a New York City hospital for possible Ebola, health officials said Thursday.

 

The unidentified doctor was working with Doctors Without Borders and returned from one of the three West African countries afflicted with the disease within the past 21 days. Officials were contacted after he reported a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, according to a statement from the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The patient was transported to Bellevue Hospital in New York by a specially trained HAZ TAC unit wearing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).

"A person in New York City, who recently worked with Doctors Without Borders in one of the Ebola-affected countries in West Africa, notified our office this morning to report having developed a fever," Doctors Without Borders said in a statement.

"As per the specific guidelines that Doctors Without Borders provides its staff on their return from Ebola assignments, the individual engaged in regular health monitoring and reported this development immediately," the organization said.

Preliminary test results are expected in the next 12 hours, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene commissioner Mary Bassett said in a statement. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also retained a blood sample from the patient, officials said in a statement.
“As a further precaution, beginning today, the Health Department’s team of disease detectives immediately began to actively trace all of the patient’s contacts to identify anyone who may be at potential risk,” Bassett said.

“The Health Department staff has established protocols to identify, notify and, if necessary, quarantine any contacts of Ebola cases,” she said.
Bellevue Hospital is one of eight hospitals designated by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to treat Ebola in the state.

The Ebola outbreak has infected nearly 10,000 and killed at least 4,877. The three West African countries hit hardest by the virus are Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.