Possible Ebola patient in Sacramento in good condition, officials say

A patient who may have tested positive for Ebola is in good condition and continuing to receive care at UC Davis Medical Center, officials say.

A news conference that had been scheduled Thursday afternoon to discuss the situation was abruptly canceled. UC Davis hospital officials did not immediately explain why.

Officials did say, however, that they are continuing to gather information.

On Thursday, health officials announced that a person -- not a child -- was transferred about 9 a.m. from Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento to the medical center with symptoms consistent with Ebola, said UC Davis Medical Center spokeswoman Dorsey Griffith.

Doctors at UC Davis are working with the California Department of Public Health, the Sacramento County Public Health Department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the patient’s evaluation.

If the person is diagnosed with Ebola, UC Davis is well prepared, Griffith said.

The hospital was named a priority hospital by the California Department of Public Health during the peak of the Ebola scare last year and is up to CDC standards, she said.

The patient does not pose a risk to the public or to other patients at the medical center, Griffith added.

The rest of the hospital remains open. The person is being treated in an isolation room that is staffed by experts, Griffith said.

“Whenever there is a person displaying symptoms that may be Ebola, who has recently traveled to Sierra Leone, Liberia or Guinea, certain precautions are taken including isolating the patient, ruling out other infectious diseases, and testing for Ebola if warranted,” said Dr. Gil Chavez, state epidemiologist and deputy director for the California Department of Health’s Center for Infectious Diseases.

In a statement, Mercy General spokeswoman Melissa Jue applauded her hospital’s response to the potential Ebola patient.

“We are proud of our caregivers and staff for the excellent care and compassion they showed to the patient and for their collaboration and attention to detail,” she said.

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