Denver Ebola Scare: Man Tests Negative Says Health Dept.

DENVER, CO – A Denver patient tested negative for Ebola after a scare at Denver Health that closed off a portion of the hospital, the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment said in a release.

The patient was taken to Denver Health around 8:30 a.m. Sunday, with sudden symptoms of the contagious disease.

The highly contagious Ebola virus can cause severe bleeding and bodily organs to fail and can lead to a patient's death.

The patient had been visiting an area of the Congo that had seen an Ebola outbreak on a missionary trip, said Connie Price, chief medical officer of Denver Health. But reports from the CDC said the outbreak in that region had been declared over, the Denver Post reported.

The man had been working with ill and dead persons in the Congo and "suddenly got very sick" at his Denver home, Price said Sunday.

He was held in the hospital's biocontainment unit. Members of an ambulance crew that took the man to the hospital and a close friend of the patient were also temporarily held in isolation while test results were out. The hospital had also diverted ambulance traffic at one point on Sunday, but it resumed emergency operations later Sunday afternoon.

The patient was listed in fair condition.

Denver Health is one of the CDC's 10 regional facilities where Ebola patients can be treated.

Image via Shutterstock

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