Possible Ebola infection prompts isolation of isle patient

A person admitted to a Honolulu hospital was isolated because of the possibility that the patient contracted the Ebola virus, state Department of Health officials confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

Health officials declined to provide details about the identity of the person, the symptoms or the hospital, citing federal privacy laws, but the Honolulu Star-Advertiser has learned that the patient is male and is at the Queen’s Medical Center.

A Queen’s spokeswoman declined comment.

The case was reported to state health officials Wednesday. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines call for such reports of people who may have traveled to the West Africa region in the last 21 days and experienced certain symptoms.

The patient’s evaluation is in the preliminary stages, said Dr. Melissa Viray, deputy state epidemiologist. No decision has yet been made on whether to send a blood sample to CDC’s lab in Washington, D.C., for testing for Ebola.

The person’s symptoms "might be Ebola," she said. However, "there are a number of reasons why a person might have symptoms … and a lot of those things might not be Ebola."

On Wednesday, the Health Department had not yet even confirmed the patient’s recent travel history, she said.

Ebola symptoms include fever, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain or unexplained hemorrhaging. Symptoms may appear from two to 21 days after exposure to Ebola, but the average is eight to 10 days, according to the CDC website.

At this point, "you look at their actual exposure history, their lab work, their clinical features, and based on that, you decide on whether or not this is a high enough suspicion that you need to test," Viray said. "And that’s actually what the process has been today, is to try get the most basic information to try to start down the process of ‘Do we even need to test?’ Right now, we’re very early in the evaluation process."

A decision on whether to send specimens to Washington should be made "fairly soon … in the next day or so," Viray said. Once sent, results would likely be available in no more than a couple of days, she added.

Viray declined to say when the patient was admitted but said the Health Department learned of the case Wednesday.

The CDC has received 94 inquiries from states about illnesses that were suspected to be Ebola, the Associated Press reported. But after taking travel histories and other factors into account, most were ruled out.

Of the 13 people who actually underwent testing, only one — in Dallas — tested positive.

None of those previous suspected cases was from Hawaii, Viray said.

She cautioned the public against panic or alarm.

"There are a lot of things that this could be," she said.

The patient is in isolation, in a single-occupant room with a dedicated bathroom, in a move made in an overabundance of caution, Viray said.

"Ebola is a virus that needs direct contact with blood or bodily fluids to be transmitted," she said. "It’s not something that floats along like tuberculosis."

Those charged with caring for the patient must enter the room in personal protective equipment "to minimize (exposure) in the unlikely event that this ends up being Ebola," she said.

The protective gear, under CDC guidelines, consists of a mask, a protective shield, a fluid-impermeable gown, and multiple pairs of gloves.

"We’ve been emphasizing the fact that people need to be very careful as they get in and out of that equipment," Viray said.

The public, through the media, will be notified when the Health Department determines if there is enough evidence to advance the case to the testing stage, Viray said.

There is no federal or state requirement for the Health Department to notify the public of the actions that Queen’s took Wednesday. And it was unclear if, or when, the department would have notified the public of this case had it not received media inquiries.

The Health Department would not want to release information that may lead to unnecessary fear or panic if there is no reason for concern, Viray said.

"In the unlikely event that we actually had a case, of course we would let people know," she said. "We have no reason to hide this. Right now, we just want to gather more information."

On Wednesday, the first Ebola patient to develop symptoms in the United States was identified as Thomas Eric Duncan, who is being treated in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.