Ebola US Outbreak: NYC Doctor, Craig Spencer, Tests Positive For Deadly Virus

An ebola outbreak in the U.S. is slowly becoming a reality and now a doctor in New York City has tested positive to the virus. Craig Spencer, had recently returned from treating affected patients by the epidemic in Guinea. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center and placed in quarantine. The 33-year-old doctor has been around Manhattan and Williamsburg using public transportation and officials have placed at least three people that had contact with him in isolation for testing. Investigators have been looking at information from his credit cards and MetroCard to trace areas he has been around and warn the public to be extra careful.

New Yorkers are now in fear that they could possible by contaminated with ebola. "We want to state at the outset there is no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed," Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters on Thursday. "Ebola is very difficult to contract. Being on the same subway car or living near someone with ebola does not put anyone at risk." The mayor was joined by Gov. Cuomo at the same press conference where he assured the public that the situation in NY is different than that of Texas where two health care works contracted the virus after treating an ebola patient. "We are as ready as one could be for this circumstance," Cuomo said. "We had the advantage of learning from the Dallas experience."

Initially it was believed that ebola was not able to be transmitted airborne, but after the virus was transmitted between patients in the U.S. protocols are going to have to change. Dr. David Sanders, Professor at Purdue University, has been studying the virus since 2003 and says, "it can enter the lung from the airway side." He also added, "So this argues that Ebola is primed to have respiratory transmission. We need to be taking this into consideration. What if? This is not a crazy, 'What if?' This is not a wild, 'What if?'" As of late we've only seen cases where the virus has been transferred through bodily fluids, but this can change. Sanders points out that the longer the virus spreads and mutates, the more likely airborne transmission will become a reality.