A patient is currently in isolation at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City with symptoms resembling Ebola Virus Disease.

Image/CDC
Image/CDC

Hospital officials say the individual, who worked as a medic on a medical boat off the west coast of Africa and calls Kansas City home , called today and later came to the hospital with symptoms; however, fever was not one of the symptoms.

It is not clear what type of patients he cared for on the ship.

According to a news release, the patient is being kept in strict isolation and tests are being done to determine a diagnosis. Dr. Lee Norman, chief medical officer of the hospital, says that there are many other diseases that fit the patient’s symptoms, but the hospital is following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control to determine whether the patient has Ebola or not.

Hospital staff met the patient wearing personal protection equipment and followed the hospital’s plan for this kind of illness.

Laboratory analysis is underway to determine a diagnosis. Testing will be performed in Omaha and at the CDC. The hospital says that regardless of a diagnosis, this patient does not pose a health risk to other patients, staff or visitors at the hospital. In addition to being in an area with its own ventilation system, all bedding and waste is isolated from regular hospital material due to guidelines from the CDC and state of Kansas.

Video Screen Shot
Video Screen Shot