A man who arrived in New York City from Mali is being tested for Ebola at Bellevue Hospital, with results expected later Thursday, officials said.
The unidentified man was rushed from his Brooklyn home to Manhattan's Bellevue, the city's designated Ebola-treatment center, after he began exhibiting symptoms and officials learned his travel history, the New York Daily News reported.
The 50-something arrived last weekend from Mali, which has seen six confirmed cases and five deaths from the Ebola virus. However, Mali is not at the center of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which has killed thousands in neighboring Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The patient suffered from flu-like symptoms on Wednesday and contacted a private doctor in Brooklyn. The man was sent home, sources told the Daily News.
He called 911 on Thursday morning and requested to be taken to a local clinic, but once he told responders of his travel history he was rushed by ambulance to Bellevue. It is not clear if the doctors he contacted on Wednesday knew he recently traveled from Mali.
Symptoms of Ebola, which include a fever and upset stomach, can appear anywhere between two and 21 days of infection. Health officials say transfer of the virus does not occur until someone is showing symptoms.
The city's fire department officials said the ambulance and EMS team that transported the patient were decontaminated.
"These are procedures we take in the interest of safety," an unnamed FDNY source told the Daily News. "It's a precautionary step. None of it confirms that this person has Ebola."
Bellevue Hospital, the nation's oldest public hospital, is the same hospital where Dr. Craig Spencer was diagnosed with Ebola, the city's first case, after returning from treating patients in West Africa. He recovered from the virus and was discharged last Tuesday.
