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Westchester Man With Low Risk Factor Is Being Monitored For Ebola

This story has been updated.

Photo Credit: Centers for Diease Control and Prevention

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. -- A patient at a Westchester hospital is being monitored for possible Ebola symptoms, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino announced Wednesday.

The unidentified man is a Westchester resident with a risk factor low enough that there are no plans to test for Ebola, Astorino said at a press conference at his office in White Plains.

“This person did not travel to one of the affected countries, but felt he may have been in contact with someone who was,” Astorino said.

Astorino said the man "had a concern" about Ebola after developing a fever Tuesday night and decided to seek treatment.

There have been 11 inquiries for possible Ebola cases in Westchester since August, but still no confirmed cases.

Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person in the United States treated for Ebola, died Wednesday morning. Duncan traveled to the U.S. from Liberia and had been in critical condition since being diagnosed in mid-September.

Ebola, which is not an airborne virus, cannot be transmitted by being in the same area as someone who is infected.

The virus is contracted only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or animal and it only becomes contagious when an infected person or animalhas symptoms.

Symptoms of Ebola include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, muscle pain, decreased kidney and liver function and possible bleeding, either internally and externally. 

Jon Craig contributed to this report.

 

 

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