[Content Note: Illness.]
Dr. Craig Spencer, who recently returned from treating Ebola patients in Guinea, has tested positive for the virus. After starting to feel sluggish Tuesday, he developed a fever yesterday, and, upon reporting his symptoms, was taken by people in protective gear to Bellevue Hospital Center and placed in isolation. There, tests confirmed he had contracted the virus.
At New York Magazine, Margaret Hartmann documents what we know about Dr. Spencer and his case so far.
Dr. Spencer is one of more than 400 healthcare providers who have contracted the virus while working on the front lines of the epidemic in West Africa.
The good news is that "there is reason to be optimistic that the disease will not spread."
I hope that no one else has been exposed, and that Dr. Spencer, who has access to extremely good care from well-prepared healthcare providers, will make a quick recovery.
I also hope that Dr. Spencer having fallen ill will not discourage volunteers from traveling to West Africa to help, because health workers are desperately needed there, where there is a severe crisis.
UPDATE: In related news, the first case of Ebola has been diagnosed in Mali. Mali is the sixth West African country to report a case of the virus. The two-year-old girl, whose family had traveled from Guinea, is one of nearly 10,000 people infected with Ebola so far this year, about 4,900 of whom have died.
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