Mass General Hospital (MGH) was monitoring a suspected case of Ebola, which has been diagnosed as malaria.
The unnamed patient was admitted to the hospital in Boston on December 2, 2014 with symptoms approximating those of Ebola. Since the individual was in Liberia, one of the areas hardest-hit by the disease, the hospital admitted the patient, who was placed in a specially-prepared area to prevent infecting staff members and other visitors. Before Ebola was eliminated as a possibility, the hospital followed isolation guidelines recommended for Ebola victims by the federal government.
"The patient had been undergoing routine monitoring by the Boston Public Health Commission after previously working in Liberia in a non-medical capacity. In accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, and out of an abundance of caution for our patients, their families and our staff, the hospital is continuing to follow the highest possible safety precautions," Mass General Hospital announced on their Web site.
Mass General Hospital has the capacity to treat up to two Ebola patients at one time. Management at the health care center have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars renovating the building to treat potential Ebola patients.
Although Ebola was eliminated as the source of the anonymous patient's illness, malaria is a serious, often fatal disease on its own.
Malaria is the result of a parasitic infection, carried by mosquitoes. Around 219 million cases of malaria are contracted each year, resulting in the deaths of 660,000 people. Roughly 91 percent of the cases are contracted in African nations.
"People with malaria often experience fever, chills, and flu-like illness. Left untreated, they may develop severe complications and die," CDC officials wrote on their Web site.
Since September 2014, a total of four people have tested positive for Ebola in the United States. Three of the patients have recovered, while one died from the disease. Craig Spencer, a member of Doctors Without Borders, was declared free of the disease in November 2014. Kent Brantly contracted the disease in Africa, and was successfully treated in Nebraska. He later donated blood to fellow Ebola patient Rick Sacra.
In western Africa, around 17,000 people have been diagnosed with the disease, 6,055 of whom have perished.
A team of officials from the CDC visited MGH on December 1 to discuss Ebola preparedness just one day before the patient was admitted.
The unidentified patient remains at MGH, in stable condition, and has granted permission to the hospital to share health information with the press.
