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Primary Children’s Hospital confirms patient does not have Ebola

Posted at 6:15 PM, Oct 03, 2014
and last updated 2014-10-03 20:15:43-04

PROVO, Utah – Testing has confirmed that an individual being treated at Primary Children’s Hospital does not have Ebola.

According to a press release from the hospital issued Friday, samples from the patient sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested negative for the virus, and the patient in question has been discharged.

The patient was admitted earlier this week. Officials stated the patient had traveled to west Africa and presented, “symptoms that raised concerns for the Ebola virus.”

Doctor Andrew Pavia, Primary Children’s Hospital’s Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, spoke about the hospital’s reaction to the patient.

“Primary Children’s used this opportunity to test our preparedness systems and ensure that they worked as planned,” he stated in the press release. “The possibility, though extraordinarily rare, that this patient had Ebola posed enough concern that we felt it was important to activate our preparedness plan and make sure we were taking all necessary precautions.”

Related story: Ebola case in Utah ‘highly unlikely,’ but hospitals testing preparedness systems