A doctor who had recently returned from Guinea has tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus, The New York Times reported Thursday evening.
Dr. Craig Spencer has been placed in isolation at Bellevue Hospital as health workers attempt to find others he may have been in contact recently, The Times reported.
Spencer, 33, returned from Guinea ten days ago after a stint working with the group Doctors Without Borders.
“It is our understanding very few people were in direct contact with him,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said, according to NY Daily News. “Every protocol has been followed. We’re hoping for a good outcome for this individual.”
The doctor took the subway to a bowling alley in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Wednesday, then returned home via taxi, according to NY Daily News. He self-quarantined himself at his apartment soon after he became symptomatic.
New York City health officials have been preparing for the possibility of Ebola patients in the city for quite some time. The hospital where Spencer is being treated, Bellevue, has four isolation rooms already and was designated as go-to place for dealing with the virus.
“We’re ready for anything,” de Blasio told reporters on Oct. 13.
Ebola is spread only through direct contact with blood or bodily fluids of infected patients, according to the CDC.
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