Update: Sick airline passenger, Newark

On October 4, CDC’s Quarantine Public Health Officer met a flight arriving from Brussels, Belgium at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport to assess a sick passenger who had traveled from West Africa. The passenger was evaluated at a local hospital in coordination with federal, state, and local public health officials. Full medical evaluation revealed no evidence or concern for Ebola, and the patient was discharged from the emergency department feeling well.

CDC coordinated with federal, state, local, and hospital officials to ensure all precautionary protocols were followed. Similarly, out of an abundance of caution, CDC provided other passengers with information they would have needed to monitor their health, should it have been determined that the ill passenger’s condition was contagious. Together with the airline and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection, CDC also collected contact information and travel plans from the other passengers should we had needed to re-contact them.

###
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES