Wednesday 22 October 2014

2 from Liberia screened for Ebola after falling ill on flights to Chicago

Two airplane passengers who had both visited the west African nation of Liberia were placed in medical care in Chicago on Tuesday after they became ill aboard different flights that both landed a O’Hare Airport, according to a statement from the Chicago Ebola Resource Network.

“To be clear, at this time there have been no confirmed cases of Ebola and there is no threat to the general public,” officials wrote in the statement.



One of the passengers was a child who vomited aboard a plane, the statement said. The child was screened by federal authorities after the plane landed. He was found to have “no fever, no symptoms other than reportedly vomiting one time and no known risk of exposure,” the statement said.

The child was given a medical evaluation and taken to University of Chicago Medical Center to be observed in isolation, though doctors opted to not test the child for Ebola.

Members of the child’s family did not show signs of infection, but they also were placed in quarantine until their evaluation is completed, according to the statement.

The second passenger to fall ill, who was not aboard the same flight as the child, was taken to Rush University Medical Center for an evaluation.

The passenger, who had been diagnosed with typhoid fever in August, was aboard a Chicago-bound flight when he reported that he had nausea and diarrhea, the statement said. The passenger is undergoing an evaluation, but was not tested for Ebola, the statement said.

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