A physician who recently returned from west Africa was taken to hospital in New York City on Thursday after displaying symptoms consistent with those caused by Ebola.

A New York city councilman, Mark Levine, identified the man as Craig Spencer, 33, a doctor who lives in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. A preliminary test confirming whether he has Ebola is expected by early Friday morning.

Health officials said they were beginning to trace the doctor’s contacts, which New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said were not numerous.



“It is our understanding very few people were in direct contact with him,” de Blasio told a news conference. “Every protocol has been followed. We’re hoping for a good outcome for this individual,” he said.

City health officials said the patient worked in one of the three west African countries affected by Ebola, which has killed more than 4,500 people since the current outbreak began. It said he returned to the United States within the last 21 days, which is the maximum incubation period for the virus.



The physician was transported by a team wearing protective gear to Bellevue hospital with a fever and “gastrointestinal symptoms”. Though the city’s statement did not specify, severe diarrhoea is a common Ebola symptom.



“A person in New York City, who recently worked with Doctors Without Borders in one of the Ebola-affected countries in West Africa, notified our office this morning to report having developed a fever,” Doctors Without Borders said in a statement.



The aid organisation said its healthcare worker was being monitored by local officials and had reported his fever immediately to the agency, per its guidelines for returning field workers. It’s unclear whether the doctor had been quarantining himself.

The organisation declined to give further information on the health worker.

A journalist for Reuters reported seeing a woman at the Bellevue information desk who identified herself to a staff member as the patient’s fiancee. The news agency said she appeared very agitated and declined to comment.

Craig Spencer Photograph: LinkedIn

Spencer’s public Facebook page, which has since been taken down, showed a photo of him dated 18 September wearing protective gear announcing he was heading to Guinea with Doctors without Borders. It showed him checking into a location in Brussels on 16 October.

His LinkedIn profile identified him as a fellow of international emergency medicine at Columbia University-New York Presbyterian Hospital.

New York Presbyterian Hospital released a statement in which it did not identify Spencer by name but called the patient “a dedicated humanitarian on the staff of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center who went to an area of medical crisis to help a desperately underserved population”.

It said he has not returned to work at the hospital or seen any patients since returning from west Africa.

Leaders have attempted to reassure New Yorkers that the city and state are safe. City health officials repeated that Ebola is difficult to contract, since people must come into direct contact with body fluids of an infected and symptomatic person.



Many fears about the disease have swirled around New York’s status as a transportation hub. Airports in the metropolitan area process the majority of passengers arriving from west African everyday, and John F Kennedy International Airport and Newark, New Jersey’s airport are now among only airports in the US accepting such passengers. Beginning Monday, passengers from the worst affected countries, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, will be monitored for 21 days after arriving in the US.



As part of the governor’s Ebola preparedness plan, two ambulances are being regularly stationed at JFK and Newark airports, the city’s transit authority was provided with protective gear and training, and unannounced drills are being conducted at airports, college campuses and in subways. The governor designated eight hospitals in the state to handle Ebola patients.



To abate healthcare workers’ fears about the disease, New York City held an Ebola educational session on Tuesday.

“In this country, with every passing day, we’re getting better and better at dealing with this challenge,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told healthcare workers on Tuesday. “This city, as you heard before, has been preparing and drilling for weeks and weeks. We’re getting better at it. And we know that we’re ready.”

Cuomo said New York is prepared to handle even the, “slightest possibility of disease.”

“Protecting the people of this state is one of our top priorities in government, and I want all New Yorkers to know that we are doing everything necessary to safeguard against the risks of Ebola,” Cuomo said in a statement last week. “New Yorkers should rest assured that we are taking the steps to be fully prepared for whatever the future brings.”

Preparedness efforts ramped up after a Liberian man in Dallas, who later died of Ebola, was sent home for two days with a high fever, symptomatic and infected. He later returned to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital where he was diagnosed with the virus.



Two nurses of the about 70 who cared for the man, Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, later became ill. Both nurses who contracted Ebola are in good condition. Nina Pham, 26, was upgraded to “good” condition Tuesday, and Amber Vinson, 29, tested Ebola-free on Wednesday.



Reuters contributed to this report.