There’s good news and bad news on the Ebola front – first the good news: The Liberian woman who was hospitalized Friday in Milwaukie, OR over fears she has Ebola does not have the disease, according to health care officials.
“Based on test results and an evaluation of her clinical condition, I’m pleased to say there are no cases of Ebola in Oregon,” Dr. Paul Lewis, the tri-county health officer, said in a news release from Providence Health & Services. “The CDC has advised us that no further testing is required.”
The woman had been monitored at Providence Milwaukie Hospital and will continue to be treated there in a separate unit.
Providence said that for now physicians, nurses and other caregivers will continue to follow infectious disease and safety protocols.
A woman in the patient’s host family in Portland told The Oregonian that the woman is fine. “She’s doing well. I just talked to her today.”
However, there’s no word on what she DOES have and when she will be released.
But a new case has popped up in North Carolina where DHHS says an individual traveling from Liberia arrived in Person County, N.C. on Saturday and developed a fever on Sunday.
A blood sample from the patient will be sent to the State Laboratory of Public Health, in the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, for preliminary testing. The preliminary results of the patient’s first Ebola test are expected to be completed early Monday morning. Based on the preliminary results, the specimen will be forwarded to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for confirmatory testing.
The patient took a bus from Newark to Durham County North Carolina.
WRAL reported:The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is monitoring a patient at Duke University Hospital who traveled from Liberia and has developed a fever.
Officials said the patient departed Liberia and arrived Friday at Newark (NJ) Liberty International Airport, which is one of five airports in the nation screening travelers from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone for fever and other signs of illness linked to the Ebola virus.
The patient had no symptoms upon arrival and had no known exposure to Ebola while in Liberia, officials said.
UPDATE:
Via USA Today:
A North Carolina man who developed a fever after returning from a trip to Liberia has tested negative for Ebola, authorities said.
The man arrived back in the United States on Friday after traveling to Liberia, WCNC-TV in Charlotte reported. He developed a fever Sunday morning at a family home in Person County and was taken to Duke University Hospital in Durham, WCNC said.
Testing conducted at the State Laboratory of Public Health returned a preliminary negative result for Ebola.. Additional testing will occur 72 hours after his fever first developed to confirm this result.
MEANWHILE:
Via NJ.com: Some Trenton residents monitored for Ebola symptoms, health officer says:
The state Department of Health reported on Friday that there are approximately 100 people in New Jersey who are being monitored at home. None of the New Jersey residents are hospitalized and no one appears to be sick, Brownlee said.
In Trenton, Brownlee said the city’s public health nurses check in on the list of individuals twice every day by phone to get the individuals’ reported temperatures and ask a series of questions to determine if they are experiencing any symptoms of the virus.
“This is just a public health precaution to watch these people,” Brownlee said. ‘They are not restricted from moving about, going to work or school.”
Trenton has a substantial population of West African transplants. The East Coast Outreach Development International, a Bucks County-based nonprofit started by a group of Liberian natives, is working to raise awareness in Trenton and the surrounding area about the serious nature of Ebola and disseminate information about the virus.
