Child tested for Ebola in New York hospital

New York, Oct 27 (IANS/EFE) A five-year-old boy who recently arrived in the US from West Africa was admitted to a New York hospital with a fever and is being tested for the presence of the Ebola virus, media reported Monday.

The child returned to New York Saturday after a trip with his family to Guinea, one of the three countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 5,000 people since March.

Paramedics in protective gear took the boy to Bellevue Hospital, the same facility where a doctor who contracted Ebola while working in Guinea as a volunteer for Doctors Without Borders is undergoing treatment in an isolation unit.

Doctors at Bellevue said the youngster had a temperature of 102.9F.

Craig Spencer, who became symptomatic days after returning from Guinea, was admitted to Bellevue last Thursday and tested positive for Ebola later that day.

--IANS/EFE

ab/vm