KU Hospital says patient’s initial test for Ebola was negative

The University of Kansas Hospital said Tuesday afternoon that an initial test indicates a patient admitted Monday doesn’t have Ebola.

More tests will be done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those results are expected within a few days.

The patient, a man in his 40s from Kansas City, Kan., remains in isolation pending the outcome of those tests.

The man had worked as a medical officer on a commercial vessel off Africa’s west coast and went to the hospital early Monday with a high fever and other symptoms. He was isolated in an infectious-disease unit for tests.

Lee Norman, the hospital’s chief medical officer, said Monday that it appeared the patient was “at low to moderate risk of Ebola,” but the hospital was following Ebola guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Other diseases can start with high fevers and similar symptoms to Ebola. While on board ship, the man treated patients for a variety of conditions and was exposed to typhoid. Norman said that was a likely cause of his illness.

Ebola has a 21-day incubation period. Infected people don’t become contagious until Ebola’s symptoms — fever, headache, muscle pains, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach ache and bleeding, and bruising — start to appear.

The virus is spread through direct contact with an infected person’s blood or body fluids, like sweat and saliva. It isn’t spread through the air.

The Star

This story was originally published October 14, 2014 at 3:29 PM with the headline "KU Hospital says patient’s initial test for Ebola was negative."