BREAKING: Yale-New Haven Hospital Treating Patient With Ebola-Like Symptoms

By rich.scinto (Patch Staff)

• For real time updates of a possible case of Ebola in Connecticut please click here.
• Click here for a round-up of articles and tweets on the Yale-New Haven Hospital patient found with ebola-like symptoms.

Safety workers in hazardous material suits have descended on yet another U.S. medical facility, this time at Yale-New Haven Hospital, where a patient has showing symptoms of having contracted the Ebola virus that has killed more than 4,000 people in Africa and has begun to spread in small numbers in the United States.

‘Yale-New Haven Hospital admitted a patient late Wednesday night for evaluation of Ebola-like symptoms. We have not confirmed or ruled-out any diagnosis at this point. We are working in cooperation with City, State and Federal health officials. There is no further information available at this time.’ — Hospital statement

News about the patient spread through the medical community and on social media, especially after pictures were posted of the New Haven Fire Department hazardous material teams suiting up outside of the hospital entrance, according to the New Haven Register.

The hospital practiced an emergency drill recently on steps to take to properly isolate an Ebola patient.

• See Also: Ebola In Your Town: What’s The Plan?

WTNH reports that a source told the network that the patient is one of the Yale researchers who returned from Liberia on Monday. It also reports the hospital is working with the CDC to have the patient tested for Ebola.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued stricter guidelines to American hospitals with Ebola patients after hospital workers in Texas were exposed to the disease while treating a patient, according to the New York Times.

The 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history and is affecting countries mainly in West Africa, according to the CDC. The agency confirmed the first travel-associated case of Ebola in the United States on Sept. 30. The patient died Oct. 8.

A healthcare worker at Texas Presbyterian Hospital who provided care to the patient reported symptoms on Oct. 10 and tested positive for the virus later. A second healthcare worker tested positive after showing symptoms on Oct. 14.

The CDC has enhanced screening at five major U.S. airports that receive more than 94 percent of travelers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

President Barack Obama canceled a planned trip to Connecticut Wednesday to have a meeting about Ebola.

Related Stories:

• WATCH: Ebola Joke Gets Man Booted Off Plane From Philly
• Hartsfield-Jackson Employee on Leave Following West Africa Trips
• Possible Ebola Patient Being Tested In DC
• South Florida Ebola Scare Unfounded
• Passenger Removed From Plane At Newark Liberty Airport Is Ebola-Free

Check back for more updates.

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Danbury High School Student in Critical Condition After Jumping From Danbury Hospital Roof

Three Meriden Residents Dead After Accident in Waterford Sunday

Image via Shutterstock.

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