 “Being on the same subway car or living near a person with Ebola does not in itself put someone at risk,” he said. “He did not have a stage of disease that creates a risk of contagiousness on the subway,” Dr. Mary Bassett, the city health commissioner, said. Sam Miller, associate commissioner for the Health Department, said outside Spencer's apartment building that the doctor's apartment was "sealed off." While authorities said Spencer attempted to self-quarantine after feeling ill, and Bassett noted he took his temperature twice a day, he went on a 3-mile run and went bowling. 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. Spencer lives on West 147th Street with his fiancee, whose name DNAinfo is withholding, and the pair plan to marry next September in Detroit. He was placed in a special isolation unit and is being seen by the designated medical critical care team. A health care worker at the hospital said that Dr. Spencer seemed very sick, and it was unclear to the medical staff why he had not gone to the hospital earlier, since his fever was high. 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. “He is a committed and responsible physician who always puts his patients first,” the hospital said in a statement. “He has not been to work at our hospital and has not seen any patients at our hospital since his return from overseas.” 
 
 Before Thursday, more than 30 people had gone to city hospitals and raised suspicions of Ebola, but in all those cases health workers were able to rule out the virus without performing blood tests. While the city has stepped up its laboratory capacity so it can get test results within four to six hours, the precautions required when drawing blood and treating a person possibly sick with Ebola meant that it took until late in the evening to confirm Dr. Spencer’s diagnosis. De Blasio said that if Spencer ends up diagnosed with Ebola, it was likely that it had been caught early.  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. Madrid Atlanta Dallas Countries with Ebola outbreaks Recovered In treatment Died 
 
 Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids and secretions, including blood, mucus, feces and vomit. 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." Thomas Eric Duncan, a 42-year-old Texan, contracted Ebola in Liberia and died in Dallas two weeks ago. Two nurses who treated Mr. Duncan fell ill, but are recovering. “New York has mobilized not only a world-class health department, but has full engagement of many other agencies that need to be on the response team,” he said.
– 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.