(http://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/452781308.jpg?w=560&h=374&crop=1)More'Contagion' Screenwriter: Ebola Isn't the Pandemic. Fear Is.Ebola Claims 887 Lives in AfricaNigeria Confirms Doctor as 2nd Ebola CaseUpdated 6: 14 p.m. ET
A man who arrived at Mount Sinai hospital in New York City Monday with a high fever and stomach problems is unlikely to be suffering from the Ebola virus, the New York Health Department said.
The patient had been visiting a West African country where Ebola cases have been reported, but department officials said the patient had none of the known risk factors for Ebola.
"After consultation with CDC and Mount Sinai, the Health Department has concluded that the patient is unlikely to have Ebola. Specimens are being tested for common causes of illness and to definitively exclude Ebola," it said in a statement.
Africa is in the midst of the worst Ebola outbreak in history, with over 1,600 reported cases and over 887 deaths in Nigeria, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
The hospital reports that the patient is being kept in isolation to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, and is being tested to confirm that his symptoms are from Ebola.
"All necessary steps are being taken to ensure the safety of all patients, visitors and staff," Mt. Sinai said in a statement.
If the patient does indeed have Ebola, the hospital is equipped to handle the disease, which only spreads by direct contact with bodily fluids like blood and saliva. "Any advanced hospital in the U.S., any hospital with an intensive care unit has the capacity to isolate patients," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden told reporters late last week (http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/t0731-ebola.html).
The CDC has long assured Americans that even if there were to be a patient with Ebola in the United States (besides the two Americans with Ebola evacuated from West Africa (http://time.com/3070012/ebola-virus-liberia-sierra-leone-guinea-africa/)), the risk for the disease spreading is minimal. "We are confident that we will not have significant spread of Ebola, even if we were to have a patient with Ebola here," Frieden said. "We work actively to educate American health care workers on how to isolate patients and how to protect themselves against infection."
Unlike many health care workers in Western Africa, health care workers in U.S. hospitals have the resources to to keep themselves adequately protected while treating patients.
(http://pixel.wp.com/b.gif?host=time.com&blog=1359921&post=3080189&subd=timedotcom&ref=&feed=1)