A possible Yale Ebola case has placed Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut on high alert Wednesday night. The probable Yale Ebola case involved a graduate student who manifested Ebola-like symptoms, which included a fever, after having recently traveled to Liberia for a study, reports say.
On Thursday officials at Yale University said they are handling the possible Yale Ebola case by putting the patient in isolation as a "suspected case" of the virus. However, they added that they had no medical evidence proving that the patient had already contracted the deadly disease.
According to hospital officials Thursday, the patient remains in stable condition.
Yale-New Haven Hospital Chief Operating Officer Richard D'Aquila said the hospital had tested the patient in case of a Yale Ebola case.
"We have not confirmed or ruled out any diagnosis at this point," confirmed the hospital in a statement Thursday morning.
Results are expected to within 24 hours, according to the New York Times.
In any case, the hospital said it is well-equipped and prepared to handle the patient in case of a Yale Ebola incident.
"The patient was evaluated in the emergency department, patient was stable and in good condition at the time," said Dr. Thomas Balcezak, the hospital's Chief Medical Officer.
"Then we were able to move the patient to our inpatient service where they were placed in a high-level precaution area," he continued.
Balcezak added that the hospital was using "an abundance of caution" in treating the patient of the possible Yale Ebola case. The patient had reportedly been placed inside a room with "negative pressure" in order to prevent the air from circulating to other areas of the hospital.
Officials said the hospital is currently trying to limit the doctors and nurses who come in contact with the possible Yale Ebola patient. Those who do come in contact with the possible Yale Ebola patient are made to wear biohazard suits, a measure reportedly exceeding requirements of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Meanwhile, officials stressed that a Yale Ebola incident where the patient will test positive for the disease is highly unlikely, reports CBS New York and the Associated Press.
"While we recognize that this is just a suspected case, we don't believe that, in really thinking it through, it will actually turn out to be an Ebola case," stated New Haven Mayor Toni Harp on the probable Yale Ebola case.
According to Mashable, Ebola scares have become frequent in the United States recently. However, as also hoped with the possible Yale Ebola case, they turned out as false alarms.
Only three cases in Dallas have been the only Ebola diagnoses confirmed in the country as well. However, the probable New Haven Yale Ebola case is reportedly drawing attention since two other Yale health researchers who had recently returned from Liberia have not been put under isolation.
Campus' student newspaper Yale Daily News reported that the two researchers had originally agreed to the 21-day isolation in case symptoms start to appear. However, the CDC and the university said the isolation was unnecessary.
Apparently, the researchers From Yale had been in Liberia working on a computer model of the spread of the virus, reports Yale Daily News.
Neither of the two from the possible cases of Yale Ebola came into contact with anyone infected with the virus during their time in Liberia, according to the university.
New Haven officials: Yale researcher checked in with Ebola-like symptoms. The student has previously tested negative when left Liberia.
— Robert Goulston (@rgoulston) October 16, 2014
The hospital is now working with city, state and federal officials on the Yale Ebola case.
A Liberian national who went to the U.S. last month didn't make it and died of Ebola on Oct. 8. The U.S. has reportedly been on high alert for Ebola cases after the death and more so now as two nurses who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the Texas Ebola patient, showed signs of having contracted the virus.
The second Dallas nurse to have tested positive for Ebola had reportedly been cleared for flights a day before her diagnosis.
The high alert for Ebola cases involved five airports in the U.S. screening passengers traveling from West Africa for Ebola symptoms.
Ebola patients are reportedly only considered contagious until they show symptoms. Symptoms of Ebola include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding. The virus is spread through close contact with an infected person's bodily fluids.
The Yale Ebola case may or may not be probable, but symptoms can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus. A full diagnosis on the possible Yale Ebola patient is therefore too soon to tell.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
