A doctor in New York City who recently returned from treating Ebola patients in Guinea became the first person in the city to test positive for the virus Thursday, setting off a search for anyone who might have come into contact with him.
The doctor, Craig Spencer, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center and placed in isolation at the same time as investigators sought to retrace every step he had taken over the past several days.
At least three people he had contact with in recent days have been placed in isolation. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which dispatched a team to New York, is conducting its own test to confirm the positive test on Thursday, which was performed by a city lab.
Spencer had worked with the humanitarian organization – Doctors Without Borders in Africa.
He first developed Ebola symptoms on Thursday morning and was taken from his Manhattan apartment to isolation at Bellevue Hospital by a team wearing protective gear, according to city officials. He had been taking his temperature twice a day since coming home, said city Health Commissioner Mary Travis Bassett.
Two friends and his fiancée have been quarantined, the Commissioner disclosed, noting that all three were healthy. The taxi driver did not come into close contact and was not considered at risk, she said.
Ebola has killed nearly 4,900 people, largely in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
