Harlem Doctor Being Tested for Ebola View Full Caption 
 
 MIDTOWN — A doctor who recently returned from West Africa, where thousands have been stricken with Ebola, was quarantied at Bellevue Hospital Thursday evening to be tested for the deadly virus, officials said. 
 
 Dr. Craig Spencer, of West Harlem, returned to New York from Guinea within the past 21 days, the period during which for symptoms from the virus normally appear, and is now suffering from a 103-degree fever and gastrointestinal problems. 
 
 Mayor Bill de Blasio said it would not be known until late into Thursday night whether test results would show if Spencer had Ebola. 
 
 Health officials also were trying to track Spencer's movements in recent days as well as find those with whom he may have come into contact. Despite news reports saying Spencer visited a Brooklyn bowling alley Wednesday night, de Blasio cautioned that Spencer had come into direct contact with "very few" people 
 
 Spencer, who is listed on his LinkedIn page as a fellow of international Emergency Medicine at New York-Presbyterian, had been serving with Doctors Without Borders in Guinea. 
 
 A recent blog post from The Program on Force Migration and Health at Columbia University indicated that Spencer had been working on Ebola while he was in that country. 
 
 Spencer lives on West 147th Street with his fiancee, whose name DNAinfo is withholding, and the pair plan to marry next September in Detroit. 
 
 Reached by phone, Spencer's finacée declined comment. Staff at Bellevue Hospital's emergency room said a person who shared her name was a patient there, without providing additional information. 
 
 Tim Shenk, a spokesman for Doctors Without Borders, said the group received a call Thursday morning from the possible Ebola patient — whom sources identified to DNAinfo New York was Spencer — saying that he had "developed a fever." 
 
 Since his return from Guinea, Spencer had been following the agency's guidelines and was closely monitoring his health and reported the "development immediately," said Shenk. 
 
 "While at this stage there is no confirmation that the individual has contracted Ebola, Doctors Without Borders, in the interest of public safety and in accordance with its protocols, immediately notified the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which is directly managing the individual’s care," Shenk said. 
 
 Fire officials said they received a call from Spencer's West Harlem address at 11:52 a.m. Thursday. He was rushed to Bellevue by a specially trained ambulance unit wearing protective gear with the help of a police escort. 
 
 Hospital officials cautioned that Spencer's symptoms were also consistent with the stomach flu, malaria and other illnesses. 
 
 Sam Miller, associate commissioner for the Health Department, said outside Spencer's apartment building that the doctor's apartment was "sealed off." 
 
 According to a statement from New York-Presbyterian, Spencer has not been at work or seen patients since he returned from overseas. 
 
 "The physician is a dedicated humanitarian on the staff of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center who went to an area of medical crisis to help a desperately underserved population," the statement read. "He is a committed and responsible physician who always puts his patients first." 
 
 On Spencer's block, City Councilman Mark Levine handed out literature about Ebola and ways to prevent its spread. 
 
 "People are scared," Levine said. "People hear the word Ebola in their neighborhood and they are afraid." 
 
 Spencer's neighbor, John Roston, 38, a computer repairman, said he saw the doctor regularly. 
 
 "I see him all the time wearing scrubs," said Roston. "He lives in the hospital." 
 
 Spencer's wedding website says he met his future bride in China and that the pair traveled the world before moving to New York. 
 
 "Craig's friends say he's a goofball, incredible gifted in both art, music and science, and a go-getter," the website read. 
 
 De Blasio said that if Spencer ends up diagnosed with Ebola, it was likely that it had been caught early. 
 
 "When a case is caught early, a great deal can be done to resolve it," de Blasio said. 
 
 In addition to only having possible Ebola symptoms for a "brief period of time," de Blasio said that 'very few people were in direct contact with" Spencer. 
 
 "The patient is in good shape and has gone into a great deal of detail with our personnel about his actions over the last few days," de Blasio said. 
 
 Bellevue is equipped with a special isolation unit to deal with infectious diseases such as Ebola. 
 
 It is one of four hospitals in the city designated by the state last week to deal with any Ebola outbreaks. 
 
 De Blasio said that weeks of preparation by Bellevue had paid off when they were called into action Thursday. He said all of the protocols had been "followed very precisely." 
 
 No one in New York has been diagnosed with the disease to date. Thomas Eric Duncan, a 42-year-old Texan, contracted Ebola in Liberia and died in Dallas two weeks ago. Two nurses who treated him also contracted the virus. 
 
 Health officials called for calm. Individuals must come into contact with an infected person's bodily fluids to contract the virus. 
 
 "The chances of the average New Yorker contracting Ebola are extremely slim," Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a statement. "Ebola is spread by directly touching the bodily fluids of an infected person. You cannot be infected simply by being near someone who has Ebola." 
 
 Murray Weiss, Jim Fanelli and Ben Fractenberg contributed reporting. ||||| A 5-year-old boy who returned home from Guinea on Saturday has tested negative for Ebola at New York City's Bellevue Hospital where he is in isolation with his mother, officials said this evening. 
 
 "Out of an abundance of caution, further negative Ebola tests are required on subsequent days to ensure that the patient is cleared," the city's Health and Hospitals Corp. announced in a statement. "The patient will also be tested for common respiratory viruses. The patient will remain in isolation until all test results have returned." 
 
 The boy was transported to Bellevue Hospital on Sunday night because of his travel history and initial reports that he had a fever, but he actually had no symptoms when he first arrived at the hospital, officials said. The mother has shown no Ebola symptoms. 
 
 It was unclear what the child's symptoms indicate, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said earlier today. "We did the cautious thing," de Blasio said. "It may turn out we have something here or it may turn out to be something different." 
 
 The boy, whom authorities have not named, developed a fever this morning, prompting the Ebola test, officials told ABC News. 
 
 Meanwhile, Dr. Craig Spencer, who tested positive for Ebola on Thursday, is in an isolation unit at the same Manhattan hospital. After Spencer's diagnosis, his fiancee remains under quarantine at home, as are two friends. None has shown symptoms of the virus. 
 
 Spencer has gastrointestinal symptoms, which health officials said were "anticipated." He was described as awake and communicating. 
 
 He became the fourth person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States after he was hospitalized Thursday. He developed a fever that morning and alerted authorities, who transported the doctor from his Harlem apartment in a specially designated ambulance. 
 
 Get real-time updates as this story unfolds. To start, just "star" this story in ABC News' phone app. Download ABC News for iPhone here or ABC News for Android here. ||||| New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday the city is actively monitoring a large number of people who have come from three West African countries since October 11.They are all being monitored for 21 days.The mayor also said that Dr. Craig Spencer remains in serious but stable condition. He noted that Dr. Spencer is now the only remaining person in the country hospitalized with Ebola."We've said for several days that it was going to get worse until it gets better. So far, so good. and again, he is getting extraordinary care at Bellevue. They are in consultation with leading experts across the nation for his care.", said de Blasio.He also criticized those who have said Spencer misled the city and was not initially forthcoming about his condition."I just have to say im sick of these attempts to belittle a man who is a hero. It has got to end. This is a guy who went into danger to protect all of us. We don't spend a lot of time, when someone comes back in a military uniform, questioning their desire to do good in a crisis. It has to be stopped at its root," the mayor said.A 5-year-old boy from the Bronx who had traveled to West Africa has tested negative for Ebola for a second time after initially having possible symptoms of the virus.The young boy is being closely watched over by doctors at Bellevue Hospital. His condition appears to be improving, officials said.The 5-year-old boy, who has been fully cleared after a negative Ebola test, will be moved from isolation, but will remain at the hospital.His fever was caused by a respiratory infection, hospital officials said. His family is now able to more freely visit with him after the negative test results.A negative test result also allowed Kaci Kickox to leave a tent outside University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey where she had been quarantined over the weekend, but also set off a firestorm of debate over mandatory quarantines."She's out now but the larger issue of the mandatory quarantine policy needs to be addressed," Norman Siegel, Hickox attorney, said.Hickox left the hospital Monday in a SUV provided by the state of New Jersey to drive back to Maine. She claims she was treated like a criminal.Hickox, who volunteered in Africa with Doctors Without Borders, was the first person forced into New Jersey's mandatory quarantine for people arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport from three West African countries.Governor Chris Christie holds firm to the quarantine policy that he implemented."We're trying to be careful here. This is common sense. The members of the American public believe it is common sense and we are not moving an inch. Our policy hasn't changed and our policy will not change," Christie said in a television interview.Hickox was quarantined in a tent with no heating, no shower and a box for a toilet, her attorney says and adds that she is planning to sue New Jersey. Hickox said she never had symptoms and tested negative for Ebola in a preliminary evaluation."Her civil rights were violated and at a minimum she could bring an action for damages, but I think her goal is to try to revise the current policies with regard to mandatory quarantine," Siegel said.Hickox will continue her quarantine in Maine, one of nine states that have announced some type of quarantine above and beyond federal guidelines including New York.The extraordinary precautions that New York City EMS Haz-Tac crews now utilize drew the praise of Mayor Bill de Blasio.He honored the unit that transported the city's first confirmed Ebola case to Bellevue."There is courage that runs through the people that do this work. They volunteered to take on extraordinary dangerous challenges. They do it out of their devotion to helping their fellow New Yorkers," de Blasio said.Spencer is the only confirmed Ebola case in New York.(Some information in this story is from the Associated Press.)
– New York City has its first Ebola case: A doctor who recently returned from West Africa has tested positive for the disease, reports the New York Times. Craig Spencer, who had been working in Guinea with the group Doctors Without Borders, is now in isolation at Bellevue Hospital. City health authorities are trying to get a handle on how many people may have had contact with him in the last week or so. The Daily News reports that the 33-year-old returned from Africa 10 days ago—well within the standard 21-day period in which symptoms would typically appear—and was "roaming around town" before falling ill. He reportedly went bowling in Brooklyn last night, rode the subway, and used taxis run by the service Uber. Before the diagnosis came out, Mayor Bill de Blasio sought to play down fears as news spread of Spencer's hospitalization. “Our understanding is that very few people were in direct contact with him,” he said at an evening press conference. Fire officials got a call from Spencer's address in West Harlem this morning and transported him to the hospital with a 103-degree fever and nausea, reports DNA Info. Spencer reportedly lives with his fiancee. Authorities have sealed off their apartment and were distributing informational fliers about Ebola. The CDC, meanwhile, plans to conduct another test to confirm the initial diagnosis.