New Jersey Department of Health: Passengers on Newark flight do not have Ebola

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Saturday, October 4, 2014
@paul_chard63 via Twitter
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NEWARK -- CDC officials removed two passengers from a plane that landed in Newark Saturday afternoon following a possible Ebola scare. After an examination by physicians at University Hospital, the symptoms of one individual were found to be consistent with another, minor treatable condition unrelated to Ebola. The second individual, who was traveling with the patient, was asymptomatic.

United flight 998 from Brussels landed at Newark Airport and was met by Centers for Disease Control officials based in Newark after a 35-year-old man and his daughter, who are both from Liberia exhibited possible signs of Ebola.

An official who had been briefed on the situation said the passenger was "vomiting on the flight but did not display most of the other symptoms."

The flight landed around noon with 253 passengers and 14 crew members aboard. Customs department then released the passengers.

Officials with the CDC removed the two passengers from the plane while other passengers remained on board. The man and his daughter were both escorted by a CDC crew in full HAZMAT gear. The daughter did not exhibit any symptoms. They were taken to University Hospital where the emergency room will not accept anyone else for four hours.

The other passengers were eventually allowed to deplane around 2 p.m. at Terminal B.

A doctor coming through the Customs area said an announcement was made to direct everyone aboard flight 998 to move to a separate area of Customs. There is a reported bottleneck inside the passport control area.

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