A suspected Ebola exposure at a Manhattan urgent-care facility had two patients rushed to the hospital by emergency workers in hazmat suits Sunday – but the disease was ruled out.
The patients were transported from a City MD on East 125th Street and Lexington Avenue by first responders wearing hazmat suits, law enforcement sources said but officials later said it was likely norovirus and not Ebola.
Officials feared Ebola infections because the patients may have had contact with an individual or individuals who traveled from Uganda and had symptoms consistent with the disease but no tests had confirmed its presence, the sources added.
Early emergency notifications were that the patients may have traveled directly, the sources said.
An investigation determined the illness had spread quickly between family members, which meant it may be more likely to be norovirus, according to the sources.
“Neither patient had exposure to Ebola or other factors that would indicate risk,” Interim Commissioner of Health at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Dr. Michelle Morse wrote on X.
One of the patients was taken to Bellevue Hospital for routine testing and treatment, Morse added.
The NYC Health Department is in close communication with the FDNY, CityMD and NYC Health + Hospitals, Morse said.
The City MD was open and conducting business as usual Sunday afternoon.
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Ebola, which is spread through contact with bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials, manifests as a deadly hemorrhagic fever.
Its symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, and at times internal and external bleeding and are similar to those of norovirus, though the sickness is not deadly.
soruce: nypost.com/suspected-ebola-exposure-at-nyc-urgent-care-as-hazmat-crews-on-scene-sources/
