Doctor tests positive for Ebola in New York hospital

NEW YORK — A doctor who recently returned to New York from treating Ebola patients in West Africa on Thursday tested positive for the deadly virus, city Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

The doctor has been placed in isolation, in what is New York’s first diagnosed case of the deadly disease and the fourth case diagnosed in the United States.

The doctor was rushed to hospital with a fever, the city’s health department said.

The man was rushed by ambulance from his home in Harlem to Bellevue Hospital, suffering from a 103-degree Fahrenheit (39.4-degree Celsius) fever and nausea, The New York Post reported.

The New York City health department confirmed that a health care worker who had returned to the United States within 21 days from an Ebola-afflicted country was being tested for the virus.

The patient had a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms and was tested because of his “recent travel history, pattern of symptoms and past work,” the department said.

Bellevue is one of three hospitals in Manhattan and eight in the state of New York equipped to handle patients diagnosed with Ebola.

As a further precaution, the New York City health department said it was actively tracing all the patient’s contacts to identify anyone who may be at potential risk.