Second possible Ebola patient in Sacramento tests negative

A second possible Ebola patient in Sacramento has tested negative for the deadly disease and is being dispatched from an area hospital.

It was the second case within 24 hours that a person showed what appeared to be symptoms associated with Ebola but then tested negative.

The latest patient, whose name and gender were not released, was admitted to Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center late Wednesday for assessment and Ebola testing.

That request came from the California Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kaiser Permanente said in a statement.

The patient was “considered low risk for Ebola” and was being monitored in the hospital’s Ebola Special Care Unit “out of an abundance of caution,” the hospital said. The Ebola treatment unit is isolated from the general patient population.

Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center, which has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as an Ebola treatment center, is working with local, state and national public health agencies to care for the patient, hospital officials said.

Late Thursday, testing revealed that a patient who had been admitted to UC Davis Medical Center with possible Ebola symptoms had tested negative.

The adult patient, whose name and gender were not released, was transported by specialized ambulance from Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento to the medical center Thursday morning with symptoms consistent with Ebola, officials said.

The patient had a history of traveling to an Ebola-affected country, according to a joint statement from the California Department of Public Health, Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services and the UC Davis Medical Center.

The test for Ebola, which was conducted by the Sacramento County Public Health Department Laboratory, came back negative Thursday night, officials said.

The patient “remains in good condition, and we will continue to provide ongoing medical care,” J. Douglas Kirk, chief medical officer at UC Davis Medical Center, said in a statement.

Sacramento County Health Officer Olivia Kasirye said the “expediency of this investigation … preserves resources and allows staff to resume other investigations.”

As of Friday, there have been no confirmed cases of Ebola in California, and “there is no threat to the general public,” the health agencies said in a statement.

If a person is diagnosed with Ebola, UC Davis is well prepared to handle the situation, said Dorsey Griffith, a UC Davis Medical Center spokeswoman.

The hospital was named a priority hospital by the California Department of Public Health during the peak of the Ebola scare last year and is up to CDC standards, she said.

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