A sick passenger and a companion evaluated after their flight from Brussels arrived in Newark Saturday do not show signs of Ebola and will not be tested for the deadly virus, officials said. Michael George reports.
A sick passenger and a companion evaluated after their flight from Brussels arrived in Newark Saturday do not show signs of Ebola and will not be tested for the deadly virus, officials said.
University Hospital in Newark, where the two people were taken after federal health officials met their flight, released a statement saying the individual who had vomited on the flight had symptoms consistent with a different, minor condition. The other passenger was asymptomatic, the hospital said.
"The patient was discharged from the emergency department feeling well," Benjamin Haynes, a CDC spokesman, said in a statement.
The more than 200 passengers aboard were allowed to leave the aircraft after initially being asked to stay in place while medical personnel boarded to assist the sick traveler, United Airlines said.
The plane, United Airlines Flight 998, was carrying 255 passengers and 14 crew members, the airline said.
The CDC collected contact information from the passengers and gave them "information they would have needed to monitor their health, should it have been determined that the ill passenger's condition was contagious," Haynes said.
"CDC coordinated with federal, state, local, and hospital officials to ensure all precautionary protocols were followed," he said.
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The scare comes amid concerns that the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa could be spread by international travelers.
The first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States went to a Dallas hospital last week but was mistakenly sent home, despite revealing that he was visiting from Liberia. U.S. health care officials have said the American health system is equipped to prevent an outbreak in the U.S.
