Ebola scare sends Denver hospital on lockdown as hazmat teams rush in to check deadly virus
A hospital in Denver went on a temporary lockdown on Sunday after an Ebola scare. Hazmat teams rushed at the location to check for the deadly disease, which claimed over eleven thousand lives between 2013-16. The emergency crew then ran tests on the patient suspected of carrying the Ebola virus and found him negative for the disease.
The Denver Health Medical Center released a statement on Sunday night, stating that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's tests on the patient, who had been quarantined, had come back negative for Ebola.
Reports state that the scare began on Sunday morning around 8.30 am when a patient — who had recently traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — had come back with symptoms which were appeared similar to that of Ebola. The DRC was announced free of Ebola last week on Wednesday after the virus outbreak killed 33 people in the region.
According to officials, the patient had reported, handled the sick and diseased during an Ebola outbreak in the DRC, which led the experts to believe that his symptoms could be of the lethal virus.
Some of the symptoms of Ebola include fever, fatigue, dehydration, chills, headaches, muscle pain, sweating, eye redness, diarrhea, and vomiting. The virus in advanced stages can result in internal bleeding and can cause the patient to cough up blood.
Reports state that the Denver Health Medical Center is one of the ten regional facilities in the United States, which is designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for treatment of the deadly virus cases in the country.
CBS Denver reported that emergency crews in hazmat-style suits were seen entering the hospital building on Sunday afternoon, as the medical facility was put on a lockdown for a brief period. Reports state that other ambulances which were heading in the direction of the medical facility were diverted to other hospitals.
The hospital, in a statement released earlier on Sunday, had said that Ebola was "being considered as a potential but unlikely diagnosis" of the patient's affliction.
An infection disease physician and chief medical officer at Denver Health, Dr Connie Price, said, "From an initial review of the situation and the symptoms presented by the patient, it is unlikely that this will be confirmed as an Ebola case."
The facility urged its patients, staff, and visitors to remain calm, assuring that there was no threat to them.
Ebola is a highly contagious virus which can spread through direct contact with bodily fluids. The West Africa Ebola outbreak, which began in 2013, has been deemed as the most widespread outbreak of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in history. Major outbreaks were recorded in Libera, Guinea and Sierra Leone.