(UPDATE: Officials have confirmed a diagnosis of Ebola. See our updated post here.
A physician who recently returned from a Doctors Without Borders mission to West Africa is in isolation at New York’s Bellevue Hospital after presenting with a 103 degree fever.
Here we go again. NBC News reports:
“While at this stage there is no confirmation that the individual has contracted Ebola, Doctors Without Borders, in the interest of public safety and in accordance with its protocols, immediately notified the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, which is directly managing the individual’s care,” Doctors Without Borders said in a statement.Health care workers are among those at highest risk of being infected, because they work so closely with very ill patients and are in frequent contact with infectious bodily fluids such as vomit.“The patient was transported by a specially trained HAZ TAC unit wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE),” the city health department said in a statement, adding that after consultation with the hospital and the CDC, they would test for Ebola. They are also checking him for malaria, salmonella and stomach viruses because they can all cause similar symptoms.
Dr. Craig Spencer, the latest patient, had been monitoring himself since his return, and thankfully did the right thing by reporting his fever to the appropriate officials. Reports haven’t revealed where Dr. Spencer was practicing, but if he was in a country that was placed under recently-implemented travel restrictions, the next few weeks could be…interesting…for elected officials:
DHS claims that these restrictions will allow officials to control and monitor the influx of travelers from West Africa; but if there’s even the hint of a rumor that Dr. Spencer came into the country while we were debating the merits of limiting travel, there’s going to be questions.
Questions, and enough negative ad time to bury any other issue candidates are trying to push with less than two weeks until Election day.
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