A girl has tested negative for the Ebola virus after falling ill earlier this week during a flight from Liberia to Chicago, hospital officials said late Thursday.
The girl, who has been discharged from the University of Chicago Medical Center, had been medically isolated since Tuesday after city health officials said she vomited on board a flight that arrived that day at O’Hare International Airport. She was screened by federal authorities and found to have no fever or other symptoms of Ebola other than dehydration, and no known contact with anyone who had the virus.
Though her condition improved, officials decided to test her for Ebola “out of an abundance of caution,” according to a statement from the newly formed Chicago Ebola Resource Network, a consortium of hospitals and the Chicago Department of Public Health.
The unidentified child was originally taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital for observation before being moved to the U. of C.’s Comer Children’s Hospital.
The Illinois Department of Public Health received approval earlier this week from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to perform the Ebola test. All testing must first be approved by IDPH, and then the CDC. A second sample is sent to CDC to confirm state lab results.
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Health officials had already isolated the child’s family while awaiting the test results.
Separately, an adult passenger who traveled that same day from Liberia to O’Hare was also isolated upon arriving in Chicago, after reporting nausea and diarrhea. Though that passenger had a normal temperature and no known risk of exposure, city protocols required a full medical evaluation as a result of the symptoms.
The passenger was transported to Rush University Medical Center following strict infection control procedures. The patient improved and showed no further symptoms, and was taken out of isolation while still being monitored, officials said.
The CDC recommends testing for people who get a fever within 21 days of a high-risk exposure, such as skin contact with body fluids of a person with Ebola.
The virus is detected in blood only after the onset of symptoms, usually fever, the CDC said, adding that it may take up to three days after symptoms appear for the virus to reach detectable levels.