Ebola Doc Hospitalized in NYC

In what could be New York City’s first case of Ebola, a doctor identified by the NY Post as Craig Spencer, 33, MD an emergency medicine physician at New York Hospital/Columbia-Presbyterian was rushed to a special Ebola unit at city-run Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan.

Spencer returned 10 days ago from a stint as a volunteer with Doctors without Borders, caring for Ebola victims in Guinea, one of three West African nations with major outbreaks.

According to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), Spencer had a fever and gastro-intestinal symptoms. The newspaper quoted sources as saying that fever was 103 degrees

Tests to determine whether he has the virus are expected to be finished later today, the department said.

According to the DOHMH, the patient was “transported by a specially trained HAZ TAC unit wearing personal protective equipment” after officials consulted with the US Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC). It was his travel history that concerned officials.

Bellevue is designated as the hospital in the NYC’s 911 system best equipped to take care of Ebola patients, but the DOHMH cautioned that his symptoms could be explained by other illnesses, including malaria.

Meanwhile, the department began contact tracing and said it would quarantine anyone deemed to be at risk—should the tests for Ebola be positive. It also issued reassuring statements that “the chances of an average New Yorker contracting Ebola are extremely slim.”

There have also been several false alarms in reports of patients with suspected Ebola.

Spencer (seen in LinkedIn photo) lives in the West Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, where news video showed officials in hazmat suits leaving his apartment.