Traveler from Liberia being monitored for possible Ebola

MILFORD, Conn. — A patient admitted to a Connecticut hospital late on Tuesday has been placed in isolation and is being monitored for possible Ebola infection after recently traveling from Liberia, a hospital official said on Wednesday.

The man developed fever and muscle aches after returning to the United States on April 30 from the West African nation, where he had been working at Ebola treatment centers in an administrative role, said Paul Skolnik, chief of medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center’s Ebola Task Force.

“These are symptoms indicative of many diseases that are prevalent in Africa, such as malaria and others,” Skolnik said at a press conference, describing the chances of Ebola infection as “low.”

He said the man, who has not been identified, had reported no direct contact with Ebola patients during his time in Liberia.

Skolnik said test results to determine whether the man has Ebola would be available within 24 hours, and that precautions were being taken in the meantime to protect hospital staff and the public. The man was admitted by ambulance to the John Dempsey Medical Center in Farmington at around 7 p.m. ET Tuesday night, he added.

Liberia was declared free from Ebola on May 9 after 42 days without a new case, but cases of the deadly disease continue in neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone.

More than 11,000 people have died from Ebola in the three West African neighbors since the outbreak began in December 2013, according to the World Health Organisation.