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New York City Doctor Tests Positive For Ebola

A doctor in New York City tested positive for Ebola.

Published Oct. 23, 2014

On 23 October 2014, a doctor in New York City tested positive for the Ebola virus. Craig Spencer, 33, had recently returned from Guinea, where he provided care for Ebola-infected patients for the group Doctors Without Borders.

Spencer was taken to Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital after reporting a fever of 103 degrees. The New York Times reported city health officials raced to locate anyone who came into contact with Spencer in the time before he fell ill, and the doctor had visited public spaces on the night of 22 October 2014:



The doctor, Craig Spencer, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center on Thursday and placed in isolation while health care workers spread out across the city to trace anyone he might have come into contact with in recent days. A further test will be conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the initial test.

Even as the authorities worked to confirm that Mr. Spencer was infected with Ebola, it emerged that he traveled from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the subway on Wednesday night, when he went to a bowling alley, and then took a taxi home.


New York City Mayor Bill DiBlasio hosted a press conference after Spencer's Ebola diagnosis was disclosed to the public, and the Mayor assured New Yorkers the patient's contact with the public was limited before he became ill. Public health officials stated at a conference Spencer's Metrocard would be used to trace his movements, and he had traveled on the A train to Brooklyn on 22 October 2014.

Last updated:   23 October 2014

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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