Dallas hospital confirms isolated patient does not have Ebola

Washington, Oct 10 (IANS/EFE) A hospital in the US state of Texas reported Thursday that the patient quarantined earlier in the week as a possible Ebola case does not have the virus.

"The Texas Department of State Health Services has completed testing of the specimen submitted today(Thursday) by Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. The result is negative for Ebola," the Texas Department of State Health Services statement said.

The patient in question, Michael West Monning, is a Dallas County sheriff's deputy who was at the apartment of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to die of Ebola in the US, shortly after the Liberian citizen was admitted to the hospital.

At the apartment, Monning was in contact with Duncan's relatives, who remain under observation by health authorities.

Earlier, the hospital had reported that Monning was not showing the symptoms of Ebola and that the first medical exams performed on him indicated that he had not become infected with the virus.

--IANS/EFE

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