New York City Urged to Stay Calm After Latest Ebola Diagnosis

Heather Sells : Oct 24, 2014
CBN News

Dr. Craig Spencer recently returned from West Africa where he treated infected patients as a member of Doctor Without Borders.

(New York, NY)—[CBN News] Public health officials in New York City are urging calm in the wake of news that a doctor there is battling Ebola.

Dr. Craig Spencer recently returned from West Africa where he treated infected patients as a member of Doctor Without Borders.

On Thursday, he was rushed to a designated Ebola center in Manhattan after reporting a fever and diarrhea.

"We've been preparing for this for months... protocols which were scrupulously followed," NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

A team of disease detectives are now tracing Spencer's movements since he returned from Africa one week ago. Before his diagnosis he rode the subway, went bowling and stopped in a restaurant.

Health officials have sealed off Spencer's apartment and quarantined his fiancée and two friends.

But they emphasized that the doctor was not contagious until he became sick.

"I think that the thing to make clear is that the first time this patient had fever was today and fever is the typical symptom of contagious Ebola," NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Mary Travis Bassett said.

Meanwhile, new numbers from the World Health Organization indicate the current international Ebola outbreak is the worst ever.

At least 4,800 people have already died from the virus—and at least 9,900 cases have been recorded. But WHO says the true numbers may be three times higher.

Ebola has hit Liberia the hardest, with 4,600 reported cases and 2,700 deaths.

And now there's news that more than half the treatment beds in the capital are empty. It's an unintended consequence of the government order to cremate all the bodies of Ebola victims.

The order runs so contrary to Liberian customs that a growing number of people are keeping their sick loved ones at home, increasing the risk of infection.