Doctor tests positive for Ebola virus in New York

A New York physician who recently returned from the front lines of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has tested positive for the deadly virus, say two U.S. government officials.

The man, identified as Craig Spencer by New York City Councilman Mark Levine, is in isolation at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. Spencer, who had been treating Ebola patients in Guinea with Doctors Without Borders, returned to New York this month.

He becomes just the fourth person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States - and the first diagnosed outside of Texas.

The New York City Health Department, which did not identify Spencer, said in an earlier statement that he had returned to the United States "within the past 21 days from one of the three countries currently facing the outbreak of this virus." On Thursday, the statement said, Spencer "presented a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms" and was transported to the hospital from a residence in Harlem.

A federal official said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was readying a team of specialists for epidemiology, infection control, and communications to travel to New York on Thursday night. CDC officials declined to comment.

The New York lab that conducted the preliminary Ebola test is part of the Laboratory Response Network, a group of facilities designed to coordinate quickly with the CDC in response to public health threats. The CDC has "high confidence" in the results and is unlikely to repeat the test, the federal official said.

On Sept. 18, Spencer published a photo of himself on Facebook wearing personal protective equipment. In a post, he wrote: "Off to Guinea with Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Please support organizations that are sending support or personnel to West Africa, and help combat one of the worst public health and humanitarian disasters in recent history."

A spokesman for Doctors Without Borders, or Medecins Sans Frontieres, confirmed that someone who had worked with the organization had recently returned to New York from an Ebola-affected country and notified the organization's office Thursday morning about developing a fever.

In an earlier statement, Doctors Without Borders spokesman Tim Shenk said that "the individual engaged in regular health monitoring and reported this development immediately."

Hours before the positive diagnosis, the city health department's statement said that a team of disease detectives had already begun "to actively trace all of the patient's contacts to identify anyone who may be at potential risk."

"We can safely say it has been a very brief period of time that the patient exhibited symptoms," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference Thursday. "The patient is in good shape and has gone into a good deal of detail with our personnel with regard to his actions in the last few days.

"Very few people," the mayor said, were in direct contact with Spencer, and as a physician, he was "quite aware" to look for symptoms.

Physicians volunteering with Doctors Without Borders follow strict protocols as they return from the Ebola zone. They first travel through Europe and are debriefed in Brussels. Doctors can remain in the field for a maximum of four to six weeks; upon returning to the U.S., they are told to follow CDC guidelines. Those without any known exposure to Ebola are told to monitor their health for a 21-day incubation period, according to the organization.

According to the New York Times, "Spencer began to feel sluggish on Tuesday but did not develop a fever until Thursday morning, he told the authorities." When he checked his temperature on Thursday, it was 103 degrees, the Times reported.

Emergency officials received a call just before noon for a sick person in Harlem, a fire department spokesman said.

The patient met Ebola risk criteria, so a special hazardous EMS unit was sent to the apartment with personnel who were fully covered in personal protective equipment. The vehicle was immediately decontaminated, said New York City EMS union president Israel Miranda.

In its statement, the city health department noted that Bellevue Hospital "is designated for the isolation, identification, and treatment of potential Ebola patients by the City and State." Gov. Andrew Cuomo this month designated Bellevue as one of eight such hospitals in the state.

"New York City is taking all necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of all New Yorkers," the health department statement said. "The chances of the average New Yorker contracting Ebola are extremely slim."

According to Spencer's public LinkedIn profile, he has worked as a doctor at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, not far from where he lives, since July 2011.

U.S. billionaire Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft, says he will contribute at least $100 million to the fight against Ebola. Among the initiatives he's supporting is developing two medevac containment units the U.S. State Department can use to safely evacuate health workers who become infected.

Mali reported its first case of Ebola late Thursday, marking a major setback for West African efforts to contain the deadly virus. The patient is a 2-year-old girl who had come from neighboring Guinea, said Health Minister Ousmane Kone.

British Prime Minister David Cameron urged fellow European Union leaders to increase their spending on tackling Africa's Ebola outbreak, noting that 18 of them have pledged less than that donated by the furniture group Ikea of Sweden, whose foundation has given Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) a $6 million grant for the treatment of victims.

SOURCES: Associated Press, Bloomberg News.

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