UPDATE (via Mt.Sinai Press Conference):

BREAKING. Mt. Sinai official: odds are this is NOT Ebola. — Charlie Kaye (@CharlieKayeCBS) August 4, 2014

* * *

NYC's Mount Sinai Hospital testing sickened patient who recently returned from a country where Ebola has been reported - @ABCNewsHealth — ABC News (@ABC) August 4, 2014

As CBS reports,

A patient at Mount Sinai hospital is being tested after traveling to a country where the Ebola virus is present, the hospital said in a statement. The man arrived at Mount Sinai’s emergency room early Monday morning with high fever and gastrointestinal symptoms. The man told doctors he had recently traveled to a West African country where Ebola is present, the hospital said. The man has been placed in “strict isolation” and is undergoing various tests to determine the cause of the symptoms, the hospital said. All appropriate steps to keep patients, staff and visitors safe are being taken, the hospital said.

Let's hope we do not start adding to this...

* * *

NY Times adds,

A hospital spokeswoman, Dorie Klissas, said that to protect the patient’s privacy the hospital was not making public his occupation, which country he had been in, whether he had been exposed to a patient with Ebola there, or whether he had close contacts like family members, friends or co-workers who were also at risk. Ms. Klissas said the patient’s blood was being tested for Ebola, but she declined to say when the test results would be available. ... Ian Michaels, a spokesman for the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, said that another patient was isolated at a hospital in the city last week after arriving on a flight from West Africa and showing symptoms found in Ebola patients. That man was screened at Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday night and taken to Bellevue Hospital. He had a fever, but within a day the fever had gone away and it became clear that he did not have Ebola. Mr. Michaels did not know the details of the tests performed on the man. “We are on a heightened state of alert,” he said. “We have instructed all 11 of our hospitals to follow C.D.C. guidelines and be on the lookout for Ebola-like symptoms.”

* * *

As we noted previously, this is what to expect if Ebola comes to America

* * *

Here is the internal email from Mt. Sinai:

Subject: Patient with Febrile Illness and Recent Travel to West Africa

TO: All Faculty, Staff and Students



FROM: Kenneth L. Davis, MD

Chief Executive Officer and President

Mount Sinai Health System



Dennis S. Charney, MD

Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

President for Academic Affairs

Mount Sinai Health System



DATE: August 4, 2014



RE: Patient with Febrile Illness and Recent Travel to West Africa



A patient with high fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, after recent travel to a West African country where Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has been reported, presented to the Emergency Department at The Mount Sinai Hospital last night. The patient has been placed in strict isolation, and is currently undergoing medical screenings to determine the cause of the symptoms. All necessary steps are being taken to ensure the safety of all patients, visitors and staff.



The Incident Command Centers of The Mount Sinai Hospital and the Mount Sinai Health System have been activated and are working together in a unified fashion. The Mount Sinai Health System has been activated to a (HICS) Level 1 Alert. The Mount Sinai Hospital has been activated to (HICS) Level 2.



The Department of Emergency Management and the Division of Infectious Diseases at The Mount Sinai Hospital are employing all necessary infection control measures to protect patients and staff and to continue to provide the best care to our patients. It is important to note that EVD can only be transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids. The infection cannot be transmitted through casual contact.



General Information Regarding EVD:





As of August 1, 2014, approximately 1,300 cases (suspected and confirmed) had been reported in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

EVD is a severe, often fatal disease (case fatality is 55 to 60%).

Along with direct contact with bodily fluids, including infected blood, urine, sweat, semen and breast milk, exposure to objects (e.g., needles, sharps) contaminated with infected bodily fluids can spread the infection.

Patients with EVD are potentially infectious from onset of fever until weeks or months after recovery.

Ebola symptoms can appear from 2 to 21 days after exposure to the virus, with 8 to 10 days being the most common. Symptoms typically include fever, headache, muscle and joint pain (myalgias/arthralgias), weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.

Hemorrhagic symptoms include broken blood vessels in the eyes (conjunctival hemorrhage), easy bruising, and GI bleeding.

Reporting:



Contact the Infectious Disease Attending on call or Infection Control for further guidance.

Immediately report all suspected cases of EVD to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOH) at 866-692-3641 866-692-3641 .



For additional, accurate information, please visit the CDC’s webpage: http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola.



We will continue to keep you updated.