The woman walked into the CrossOver Ministry clinic, at 108 Cowardin Ave. on Richmond's south-side on Monday for a completely unrelated condition. But because the free clinic sees many immigrants through their doors, protocols were already in place for evaluating patients.
Clinic health care workers asked the right questions on her travels, and discovered she was visiting from Liberia and had a low-grade fever. They
immediately isolated her and called the state health department, and the Richmond city health department.
The state epidemiologist contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and it was decided she did not meet all the clinical criteria for Ebola infection. CDC officials did consider it reasonable to recommend further testing because of the travel history and fever.
The patient was driven to VCU Medical Center's
emergency department using the clinic doctor's private can where she was admitted to the hospital. Her clinical workup included an Ebola test approved by the CDC.
Richmond City Health District Director, Dr. Donald Stern confirmed on Tuesday the patient had tested negative for the Ebola virus, but the hospital was awaiting confirmation from the CDC.
The
CDC's criteria for testing for Ebola includes a patient having a fever of 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit or above; has traveled within an Ebola-infected region of the world within the last 21 days; and exhibits symptoms that could include headache, weakness, muscle plain, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain or hemorrhage.
There have been similar Ebola scares across the nation over the last several days. Over the weekend, a nurse who had helped care for Thomas Eric Duncan at a Texas hospital was admitted with Ebola symptoms.
