A patient at a Northern California hospital has been tested for the deadly Ebola virus.
Hospital officials at Kaiser South Sacramento have refused to identify the person, who they say has been isolated in a “negative pressure room” to reduce the risk of an outbreak, KPIX San Francisco reports.
“In order to protect our patients, staff and physicians, even though infection with the virus is unconfirmed, we are taking the actions recommended by the CDC as a precaution, just as we do for other patients with a suspected infectious disease,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Stephen Parodi said in a statement.
It is unclear where the patient could have been exposed to the deadly virus, which has now claimed more than 1,200 lives across West Africa, the World Health Organization announced Tuesday.
Parodi added that samples have been sent away for testing and results are expected in a couple of days.
The CDC has received 60 reports of possible cases of Ebola within the US since the outbreak first began, but they’ve only been able to test the samples in 10 possible cases, according to KPIX.
American aid workers Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly are in Atlanta receiving experimental treatment for the virus, which they contracted at the same hospital in Liberia. Their conditions are said to be improving daily.
Three additional US aid workers, who recently returned from Liberia, have been quarantined in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a precaution.
The virus can incubate in a human host for up to 21 days and can only be confirmed through lab testing, according to the WHO.
A man who returned from West Africa earlier this month was tested for the virus in New York City; he tested negative for the disease.