A doctor who had returned to New York City recently after treating Ebola patients in West Africa tested positive for the virus on Thursday, officials said, setting up a new front in the nation’s attempt to control the spread of the deadly disease.
Craig Spencer, a 33-year-old physician who had worked with Doctors Without Borders in Guinea until returning to the U.S. a week ago, is the fourth patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. and the ninth to be treated here.
Dr. Spencer called the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene at about 11:52 a.m. to report that he had a fever and gastrointestinal problems, and had quarantined himself inside a fifth-floor apartment on West 147th Street in Manhattan, authorities said. A Fire Department of New York hazardous materials team put Dr. Spencer in an exposure suit and transported him to Bellevue Hospital Center, the official said.
He tested positive less than three weeks after Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed on U.S. soil, died on Oct. 8. The subsequent Ebola diagnoses of two nurses who treated Mr. Duncan raised concerns that the nation’s medical systems weren’t well-equipped to stop the spread of a virus that has killed nearly 4,900 people.
Also,a 2-year-old girl in Mali has been diagnosed with Ebola, making her the West African country’s first confirmed case, health officials said Thursday.
The girl was brought to Mali from neighboring Guinea, where the outbreak this year is believed to have started, World Health Organization spokeswoman Yvette Bivigou said.
The girl, whose father died of Ebola, was taken to the hospital in Kayes after a nurse noticed she was suffering from what appeared to be Ebola-like symptoms. A test confirmed the girl has Ebola, Health Ministry spokeswoman Markatie Daou said.
“The girl is still in the hospital in Kayes together with members of her family who might have been exposed to the virus,” she said.
The confirmed case in Mali makes it the sixth West African country to be hit by the virus, which the WHO reported has killed more than 4,800 people.