Officials at a Delaware Hospital are investigating a child from Liberia for possible Ebola.
The unidentified child was brought to the Bayhealth Kent General Hospital emergency department in Dover on Saturday. Bayhealth officials said staff members completed an initial assessment of the child following the recently updated Centers for Disease Control guidelines for suspected cases of Ebola.
“After the assessment, and out of an abundance of caution, the child was admitted to a private isolation room and all CDC guidelines regarding specimen collection, transport, testing and submission for person under investigation for Ebola are being followed,” a Bayhealth spokesman wrote in a released statement.
The hospital notified the State of Delaware Office of Infectious Disease who then notified the CDC.
Officials said the child is past the 21-day maximum incubation period and has not exhibited any Ebola symptoms. The CDC declined to test the child after determining that the likelihood of Ebola infection was “extremely low.”
Despite the CDC’s decision, officials at Bayhealth are still observing the child in the hospital. The child will be released once the CDC and the infectious disease physician determine it’s safe to do so.
