NEW YORK (AP) — An emergency room doctor who recently returned to New York after treating Ebola patients in West Africa has tested positive for the virus. It’s the first case in the city and the fourth in the nation.
Speaking at a late news conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged residents not to be alarmed by the doctor’s Ebola diagnosis.
De Blasio says “clear and strong” protocols have been followed in the handling and treatment of Craig Spencer, a member of Doctors Without Borders. Spencer, who had been working in Guinea, returned six days ago. He reported that he developed a 103-degree fever and diarrhea on Thursday.
He was transported in a specially prepared ambulance to Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital. It’s been designated an Ebola treatment center.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which will do a further test to confirm the initial results, has dispatched an Ebola response team to New York.
Health officials say transmission is only possible with direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.
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