Ebola-Like Symptoms at O'Hare Prompt 2 to be Admitted to Chicago Hospitals for Monitoring

An abundance of caution has prompted Chicago-area health officials to isolate and monitor two patients with Ebola-like symptoms who flew into O’Hare Airport Tuesday from west Africa.

A child who vomited on a plane enroute from Liberia to O’Hare is in isolation at the University of Chicago Medical Center’s Lurie Children’s Hospital.

And a man traveling alone who exhibited nausea and diarrhea, diagnosed with typhoid fever two months ago, was taken to Rush University Medical Center. He was also traveling from Liberia on a different flight.

The information on each patient was released Tuesday by the Chicago Ebola Resource Network, a collaborative effort by the city of Chicago, the Department of Public Health and four of the city’s major medical centers.

Chicago Department of Public Health officials said the child did not have a fever but was taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital as a precaution. The child’s family was also screened and they are also at the University of Chicago Medical Center for observation.

“Given the point of origin for this patient, and given the great caution and concern we want to show, I think this is exactly the right reaction,” Dr. Stephen Weber, chief medical officer of the University of Chicago Medical Center

Neither the child or the adult male is believed to have been exposed to the disease, according to the CDPH.

No cases of Ebola have been confirmed in the city of Chicago.