New Mexico: Traveler, ex-Sierra Leone, being tested for ebola- Negative

[Nordica]

A New Mexico woman is being tested for Ebola, even though the state department of health says it is improbable that she?s carrying the virus.

The 30-year-old returned from a teacher assignment in Sierra Leone with fever, muscle aches, headache and a sore throat ? all symptoms similar to the early stages of Ebola, the Albuquerque Journal reports. However, she had no known exposure to the contagious disease, which is spread through contact with body fluids.
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http://time.com/#3134627/new-mexico-tested-ebola-sierra-leone/

[Nordica]

Re: New Mexico: Traveler, ex-Sierra Leone, being tested for ebola

Officials testing woman for Ebola at UNM Hospital

http://www.koat.com/news/health-dept-working-with-cdc-to-rule-out-ebola-in-patient/27566304#!bFzUok

[Pathfinder]

Re: New Mexico: Traveler, ex-Sierra Leone, being tested for ebola

NMDOH Working with CDC to Rule Out Ebola in Patient

August 17, 2014 - Infectious Disease Surveillance - Disease

Out of an abundance of caution, the New Mexico Department of Health is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to perform tests to rule out Ebola in a 30-year-old woman who developed sore throat, headache, muscle aches and fever. The woman is at UNM Hospital in Albuquerque in stable condition.

The woman had been in Sierra Leone, Africa, and left there earlier this month. Sierra Leone is one of several countries in West Africa with known cases of Ebola. The woman was a teacher, and had no known exposures to Ebola. At this time the patient is not a probable case, but a person under investigation with no known exposures.

?The Department of Health is working closely with UNM Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on this investigation,? said Department of Health Cabinet Secretary Retta Ward, MPH. ?UNM Hospital has isolated the patient, and is following the appropriate protocols to ensure other patients and health care workers are safe.?

According to the CDC, Ebola poses no substantial risk to the US general population. A person infected with Ebola virus is not contagious until symptoms appear. The virus is spread through direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the body fluids (blood, urine, feces, saliva, and other secretions) of a person who is sick with Ebola. Ebola is not spread through the air or by food or water.

As of August 13, no confirmed Ebola cases have been reported in the United States, other than the two US health workers evacuated from Liberia.

For more information visit the Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever page.

http://nmhealth.org/news/disease/2014/8/?view=122

[Pathfinder]

Re: New Mexico: Traveler, ex-Sierra Leone, being tested for ebola

Update 1: NMDOH Working with CDC to Rule Out Ebola in Patient

August 18, 2014 -



Blood samples from a <ABBR title="University of New Mexico">UNM</ABBR> Hospital patient are scheduled to be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by the end of the day for testing to rule out Ebola. The testing is being done out of an abundance of caution. The Department expects to have test results back by the end of the week from the <ABBR title="Centers for Disease Control and Prevention">CDC</ABBR>. The 30-year-old Bernalillo County woman showed up at UNM Hospital with sore throat, headache, muscle aches and reported having a fever.

The woman is in isolation and is in stable condition. <ABBR title="University of New Mexico">UNM</ABBR> Hospital is working with the Department of Health, the <ABBR title="Centers for Disease Control and Prevention">CDC</ABBR> and following its own protocols to ensure other patients, visitors and health care workers are safe.

?People who have to go to <ABBR title="University of New Mexico">UNM</ABBR> Hospital, should keep their appointments and go there with full confidence that they will be safe,? said Department of Health Secretary Retta Ward.

The woman had been in Sierra Leone, Africa, and left there earlier this month. Sierra Leone is one of several countries in West Africa with known cases of Ebola. The woman was teaching in Sierra Leone, and had no known exposures to Ebola. At this time the patient is not a probable case, but a person under investigation with no known exposures.
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http://nmhealth.org/news/disease/2014/8/?view=123

[Shiloh]

Re: New Mexico: Traveler, ex-Sierra Leone, being tested for ebola- Negative

Source: http://nmhealth.org/news/disease/2014/8/?view=126

Test Results Show UNM Hospital Patient Does Not Have Ebola
August 21, 2014 - Infectious Disease Surveillance - Disease

Laboratory tests conducted at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that a 30-year-old woman hospitalized at UNM Hospital does not have Ebola Virus Disease. The New Mexico Department of Health received the results today.

The Department of Health, in collaboration with the CDC, made the decision to conduct the laboratory tests out of an abundance of caution due to her travel history. The woman had been in Sierra Leone, Africa, and left there earlier this month. She had no history of contact with anyone who had been sick in Sierra Leone, including anyone with confirmed or suspected Ebola Virus Disease.

The 30-year-old Bernalillo County woman went to UNM Hospital last week with sore throat, headache, muscle aches and a history of fever at home. There is no indication that she has an infectious disease that can be spread from person to person. The New Mexico Department of Health only reports causes of an individual?s illness when there is a potential public health benefit.

This is the final update the Department will be issuing regarding this case.