New York City Doctor Tests Positive for Ebola After Treating Patients in West Africa
Thursday evening, the Ebola virus made national news again. This time, a doctor being held at a New York City hospital tested positive for Ebola after working in West Africa.
ABC News, through government sources, reports the doctor is Dr. Craig Allen Spencer. He is now in an isolation unit at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital. He had a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms when he was transferred to Bellevue, said NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tells the Associated Press there's no reason for residents to be alarmed by the Ebola diagnosis.
Dr. Spencer had been working in Guinea with the medical relief charity Doctors Without Borders. He returned more than a week ago and Thursday reported coming down with a 103-degree fever and diarrhea.
The doctor's Harlem apartment has been cordoned off. New York City's 'disease detectives' are tracing his contacts to identify anyone who may be at risk at contracting the deadly virus.
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Information from the Associated Press used in this report