Man taken off flight from Belgium does not have Ebola

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Saturday night that the sick passenger taken from United Flight 998 at Newark Liberty International Airport to be tested for Ebola did not have the virus in his system.

The Boeing 777, which had arrived from Brussels, Belgium, with 253 passengers and 14 crew members, was quarantined at the airport after landing at 12:15 p.m. CDC officials in hazmat suits and officers from the Port Authority Police Department boarded the plane, said department spokeswoman Erica Dumas.

At 1:50, the plane was cleared from quarantine and the aircraft was allowed to disembark the remaining passengers, and the sick passenger - who had been vomiting - was taken to Newark's University Hospital to be checked out.

Several hours later, the CDC announced that the patient had been evaluated "in coordination with federal, state, and local public health officials" and the tests indicated he was not infected with the Ebola virus, said CDC spokeswoman Sharon Hoskins.

In fact, he had a "minor treatable condition unrelated to Ebola," the New Jersey Department of Health said. The nature of that condition was not disclosed.

The man's nationality and identity were not released. He was described as being in his late 40s, according to a Twitter posting by another passenger aboard Flight 998, Paul Chard.

The concern over the Ebola virus was heightened after Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan tested positive for Ebola at a Dallas hospital.

Duncan had began his journey to the United States in Monrovia and made a stop in Brussels before landing at Dulles outside Washington and continuing on a flight to Dallas. Duncan arrived in Texas on Sept. 20, and soon began feeling ill. On Sept. 30, he became the first person to be diagnosed in the United States with Ebola.

Local officials are taking precautions such as requesting temperature checks and health forms prior to passengers' boarding flights.

Steve Sapp, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Philadelphia International Airport, said his agency and the CDC "have closely coordinated to develop policies, procedures, and protocols to identify travelers that are known by U.S. public health officials to have a communicable disease and to handle in a manner that minimizes risk to the public."