Report: N.Y. doctor has Ebola virus
Physician had been in W. Africa on medical mission
He recently returned from a visit to West Africa.
NEW YORK — A physician with Doctors Without Borders who returned to New York City from West Africa has tested positive for Ebola, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The doctor was identified as Craig Spencer, who was working for the humanitarian organization in Guinea, one of three West African nations hardest hit by Ebola.
Spencer, 33, developed a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms and notified Doctors Without Borders on Thursday morning, the organization said in a statement.
Spencer was transported to Bellevue Hospital from his Manhattan apartment by a specially trained team wearing protective gear, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a statement. He is New York’s first diagnosed case of the disease.
Sp e n c e r ’s Fa ce b o o k page, which included a photo of him clad in protective gear, said he went to Guinea around Sept. 18 and then flew to Brussels on Oct. 16. Cith health officials said that Spencer returned to the United States “within the past 21 days.”
He has specialized in international emergency medicine at Columbia University-New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City since 2011, according to his profile on the LinkedIn career website.
Columbia in a statement said he has not been to work nor seen any patients since returning from overseas.
According to a federal official, the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-