Simply put, “Odds are, this is not Ebola,” said Dr. Jeremy Boal, chief medical officer at Mount Sinai Health System in Manhattan. In the interim a man who recently traveled to West Africa is being tested for the deadly virus who had complained of a high fever and stomach issues.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said three Americans in the United States were tested for Ebola since the West African outbreak erupted this year and those results were negative. To date over 700 people have died from the virus and thousands more are at risk with two American doctors who went to assist in its control and treatment in the US being repatriated to the US. The doctors are in isolation and have tested positive for the virus which has a mortality rate of between 50-90% dependent upon certain variables. These doctors are being treated at Emory Hospital in Atlanta.
He has been placed in isolation at a New York hospital.
The NY city’s Department of Health also agreed with Boal saying that “the patient is unlikely to have Ebola” but more testing will still be done and results should be due in a few days. The man fell ill when he arrived at Mount Sinai Medical Center early Monday.
Officials watching airports
While heath officials say that the risk is remote, officials posted at US airports are monitoring travelers who come in with flu-like symptoms and Border Patrol Agents in New York and Washington have been directed to ask passengers whether they have experienced a variety of symptoms from diarrhea, fever, sore throat, headache, stomach pain, rash, red eyes and vomiting.
The CDC is encouraging the authorities in affected regions to screen passengers with questionnaires and also being monitored as to whether they have had a fever.
