Marin County Patient Suspected Of Having Ebola Discharged After Found Disease-Free

MARIN COUNTY (CBS SF) -- A patient who was possibly at risk for the Ebola virus was admitted to a Marin County hospital Monday morning and later found to not have the disease, hospital officials announced.

The patient arrived to Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae and was placed in an isolation room of the intensive care unit, according to hospital officials. The patient was later found to not meet the criteria of Ebola after an assessment by nurses and doctors.

Marin County Public Health Officer Matt Willis told the Marin Independent Journal the patient recently traveled to the Middle East, thousands of miles away from the West African nations affected by the Ebola epidemic.

"We're starting to see a lot of concern from people who maybe aren't geographically knowledgeable, who are assuming the risk is more widespread, including all of Africa," Willis said. "The majority of even West Africa is not experiencing Ebola."

The nurses and doctors followed protocol set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hospital spokeswoman Hatti Hamlin said.

The hospital enforced its incident command center system and took precautionary measures to protect its staff and visitors as they cared for the patient, according to hospital officials.

Maites and Hamlin did not know if the patient was released and did not have further information available Monday evening.

Ebola is a potentially deadly virus that has spread in West African countries, CDC officials said.

There have been two confirmed cases of Ebola so far in the U.S. A person who traveled from West Africa to Dallas, Texas was confirmed to have the illness on Sept. 30 and died on Wednesday, while a health care worker who aided the person tested positive for the disease on Friday and is in isolation, according to the CDC.

Symptoms of Ebola include a fever of more than 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit, a severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea and vomiting, CDC officials said.

The Marin County Health and Human Services Department has said the risk of anyone having the disease is relatively low in the county and has response plans prepared in the event of an Ebola case in the area.

Those who have traveled to countries affected by the disease will have their temperatures taken once they arrive at airports across the U.S., county health officials said.

Complete Ebola Coverage:

© Copyright 2014 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.