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Possible Ebola case in Jefferson County

UPDATE (6:40 pm): The Jefferson County Health Department issued the following statement after receiving preliminary results on a test to confirm a case of Ebola.

“Preliminary test results for the potential Ebola case in Jefferson County have come back from the lab and indicate the patient does not have Ebola. Mercy Jefferson and the Jefferson County Health Department will continue to monitor the case and we will work to provide more information as it becomes available.”

 

 

CRYSTAL CITY, Mo. — Hospital officials in Jefferson County confirmed they were treating a patient who recently traveled from West Africa for a potential Ebola infection.

Mercy Hospital Jefferson — located in Crystal City in Jefferson County — is collaborating with the Jefferson County Health Department and referred to the patient as a “low-risk” individual.

“The individual is currently being kept in a secure and isolated facility separate from the main hospital,” said John Winkelman, a spokesperson for the hospital.

Winkelman said that an actual case of Ebola was not yet confirmed in the patient, and maintained that the individual was at a low risk of contracting the illness.

Jefferson County Health Department officials declined to confirm or deny the case immediately.

While the Ebola virus has proven deadly throughout pockets of Western Africa, the United States has seen only a small number of cases, none of which spawned pandemic outbreaks of the disease.

Jefferson County Health Officials said that test samples had been sent to an appropriate laboratory to confirm Ebola. Officials said they expected the results to be available sometime late Thursday evening.