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Patient Cleared After Being Tested For Ebola At University Of Pennsylvania Hospital

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A patient has been cleared after being tested for the Ebola virus at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia.

Penn said it was with an abundance of caution that a patient who met screening criteria for Ebola was being evaluated.

"Conclusive testing has confirmed that the patient under evaluation at the Hospital University of Pennsylvania is not infected with Ebola virus," said Dr. PJ Brennan, Penn Medicine's chief medical officer. "All hospital operations continue as usual, and there was no impact on other patients or visitors during this standard evaluation process."

That person was isolated and guarded by medical staff in protective equipment.

Testing later in the day was negative, The Pennsylvania Department of Health said in a statement.

"Ebola has been ruled out and another diagnosis has been made," the department said.

It's not know if the person had connections to places in the Congo, where there's a current Ebola outbreak.

The deadly virus is spread through direct contact with body fluids. Symptoms are flu-like.

Back in 2014, when Ebola broke out in Africa, Penn and other hospitals in the Philadelphia region first geared up because there are large
populations from West Africa around the region.

And there were concerns about infections spreading here From those fleeing Africa.

The city monitored more than 900 travelers between 2014 and 2015. None had Ebola.

Nationwide, fewer than a dozen cases were confirmed in the U.S., mainly in medical workers who had traveled to impacted areas in West Africa, where thousands have been killed by the virus.

In addition to testing by the state health department, the CDC says it will do some testing and will monitor the situation.

 

 

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