Boston Patient Initially Tests Negative for Ebola

Photo: The Ebola virus. Credit: WHDH, 7 News.

A patient who was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston Tuesday afternoon to undergo testing for Ebola has initially tested negative for the virus, according to a hospital statement Wednesday afternoon.

The patient has tested positive for malaria, and more diagnostic testing is needed to “definitively rule out Ebola” and other diagnoses, according to the hospital.

The patient had been undergoing routine monitoring by the Boston Public Health Commission after working in Liberia in a non-medical capacity. The patient is stable and in good spirits, according to the hospital.

The hospital has not released any other information about the patient, who remains in an isolated area within the hospital as a precaution.