An Ebola scare at a New Jersey airport led to a Liberian passenger being rushed to a nearby hospital on Tuesday in line with the new protocols, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed. As of Wednesday morning, an update on the patient's condition was being awaited.
Arriving at the Newark International Airport via Brussels, the West African passenger failed to pass additional Ebola screening at the airport and was immediately taken to Newark's University Hospital in an ambulance to be evaluated whether he had been exposed to the deadly virus, Reuters reported.
The unidentified passenger, who had flown from Liberia to Brussels, caught a connecting United flight 998 to Newark. But according to unnamed officials, the man reportedly had a fever, NBC New York reported.
Along with New Jersey, airports in New York, Washington, Chicago and Atlanta have started entry screenings for another layer of protection to detect Ebola infections, federal health officials said.
"During the enhanced screening process for individuals arriving to the United States from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, an individual was identified as reporting symptoms or having a potential exposure to Ebola," a spokeswoman for CDC added.
Although fellow passengers on Flight 998 were allowed to leave, they will be contacted by the CDC or state agencies if it is determined that a risk of the virus has somehow afflicted them, according to ABC News.
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea have been at the epicenter of the Ebola epidemic, killing more than 4,500 people.
Meanwhile, in order to fight and control the spread of the rare virus, screeners will use no-touch thermometers to try and find passengers with fevers since about 150 people travel daily from or through the three West African countries into the United States, custom officials said.
Three weeks ago, a Texas man, Thomas Eric Duncan, died at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas after being diagnosed with Ebola, the first one to have been reported in the U.S. Since then, two nurses who were treating Duncan have also contracted the disease.
