New York City recently confirmed its first EBOLA case after a doctor was tested positive for the deadly virus. A preliminary test has confirmed the virus in Craig Spencer, a doctor working with Doctors Without Borders in treating infected patients in West Africa.
Spencer was tested positive with EBOLA Thursday and was the first confirmed case in New York. According to The New York Times, the doctor was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center and placed in isolation at the same time as investigators pursued to retrace every step he had taken over the past several days.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that dispatched a team in New York is conducting its own test to confirm the positive test on Thursday, which was done by a city laboratory. Because of the incident, at least three people whom Spencer had contact with in recent days have been put in isolation.
Craig Spencer, a 33-year-old physician living in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, was placed in isolation in a hospital in Manhattan earlier Thursday after suffering from the deadly virus' symptoms that include 103-degree Fahrenheit or 39.4-degree Celsius fever and nausea, The Guardian reported.
As per CNN, the doctor also suffered from pain and fatigue Thursday, Oct.17. He is currently treated in an intensive care at New York's Bellevue Hospital, one of the eight hospitals statewide that Gov. Andrew Cuomo designated earlier this month as part of an EBOLA readiness plan.
The first diagnosed EBOLA patient's identity was confirmed by New York City Councilman Mark Levine. Meanwhile, the authorities are discussing evacuating Spencer's Harlem apartment building.
Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) confirmed that a person in New York who had recently worked with the organization in West Africa reported a fever to them Thursday morning. The agency promptly notified the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene with the news.
The Huffington Post reported the New York City Department of Health was the one that confirmed the patient after he was tested for EBOLA.
Because of the latest confirmed EBOLA case, some residents in New York have been worried by the news. However, the authorities emphasized that the likelihood of spreading the virus in the city is low.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also spoke at a news conference at Bellevue Thursday night, seeking to assure the residents that there was no reason to be alarmed.
"Being on the same subway car or living near a person with Ebola does not in itself put someone at risk," he told the reporters.
New York state governor Andrew Cuomo also urged New York residents no to panic.
"I know the word EBOLA right now can spread fear just by the sound of the word," Cuomo said at a press conference. "EBOLA is not an airborne illness; it is contracted when a person is extremely ill and symptomatic. I know it's a frightening situation, I know when you watched it on the news and it was about Dallas it was frightening; that it's here in New York is more frightening."
"New York is a dense place; a lot of people are on top of each other. But the more facts you know, the less frightening the situation is," he added.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama had spoken through a telephone call with both Cuomo and De Blasio about New York's confirmed EBOLA case. The White House said that they discussed the deployment of officials from the CDC.
The US authorities have been on high alert ever since Thomas Eric Duncan traveled to the country in September from Liberia and was later diagnosed with EBOLA.
In the United States, there have already been three confirmed cases of the deadly virus. And the latest confirmed case in New York City is the fourth patient to be diagnosed with EBOLA in the country.
On separate news, the confirmation of the New York case came few hours after Mali reported its first confirmed case of EBOLA. According to Yahoo News, a 2-year-old girl was tested positive for the virus after having recently traveled in Guinea.
"Today Mali has its first imported case of the Ebola virus," the ministry said in a statement.
The girl was diagnosed after she arrived at a hospital in the western town of Kayes on Wednesday. The lass along with those who have come in contact with her have been put in isolation.
The Mali and New York confirmed cases came after African nations vowed to send over 1,000 healthcare workers to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, where the World Health Organization (WHO) said the outbreak remained to be alarming.
The world's worst ever EBOLA outbreak continues to cause and spread concern globally. And one of the major obstacles in the fight against the deadly virus is the inadequate number of skilled medical professionals. According to the latest WHO update, EBOLA has now infected nearly 10,000 people.
EBOLA kills more than half of the people it infects and there is no licensed cure for the disease yet. And with the new confirmed cases in New York and Mali, the disease continues to spread fear along with infection.
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