Delaware child does not have Ebola

A child placed in isolation at a Delaware hospital does not have Ebola, according to the state department of health.

The girl was taken the Bayhealth Hospital emergency room in Dover on Saturday with symptoms including a low grade fever, headache and stomach pain.

The child was placed in isolation after health providers learned she had recently traveled to Liberia.

Delaware Division of Public Health Director Dr. Karyl Rattay said the child did not come in contact with any Ebola patients during her travels and was not tested for the virus.

“Because she did not meet the case definition for Ebola, the lab test was not done and that was the CDC’s strong guidance,” Rattay said.

The child is past the 21-day incubation period and state health officials determined the girl does not have the virus.

“The symptoms that the child presented are not uncommon symptoms, low grade fever, mild head ache, and a mild abdominal pain,” Rattay said. “This is the time of year when we see many viruses, much more contagious and much more common than Ebola viruses.”

Rattay said the Department of Health is reaching out to health providers to go over screening procedures. They are also reminding health providers to ask for the patient’s travel history.

The West African Ebola outbreak has killed more than 3,000 people in five countries.

“If a person does have a travel consistent with being in one of those five countries and meets, otherwise, a case definition of Ebola virus, then certainly we want to be involved as soon as possible,” Rattay said.

Last week, a man who traveled from Liberia to the United States tested positive for Ebola in Texas. He remains in isolation at a Dallas area hospital.