A New York DOCTOR who had recently travelled to the Ebola-ravaged West African country of Guinea has tested positive for the disease, New York officials have said.
Dr Craig Spencer, who WORKED for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), came down with a fever on Thursday.He is the first Ebola case diagnosed in New York, the largest city in the US.More than 4,800 people have died of Ebola - mainly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone - since March. Dr Spencer fell ill with a fever and diarrhoea on Thursday and was taken to New York City's Bellevue Hospital, where he was immediately placed into isolation, the officials said.Health department officials fanned out into the city in an effort to trace his contacts and identify anyone at risk of having caught the disease from Dr Spencer.Ebola patients are only infectious if they have symptoms, and the disease is only transmittable through bodily fluids, experts say.Dr Spencer is the fourth person to be diagnosed with the disease in the US.The first caught Ebola in his native Liberia and travelled to Dallas, Texas, before his symptoms set in. He died on 8 October.Two NURSES who treated him in Dallas subsequently came down with the disease and are recovering in hospital.