A potential Ebola patient taken to University of Maryland Medical Center on Monday night was the first in the state whose case prompted a blood test for the deadly virus. The results were negative for Ebola, state health officials said Tuesday morning.
Though there have been many scares at hospitals around Maryland and the country where patients who have recently traveled to Africa exhibit symptoms that suggest Ebola, blood tests are rarely conducted to rule out the virus.
The patient had traveled to Maryland on Sunday, and on Monday afternoon called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting a "symptom of concern," a state health department spokesman said. The CDC contacted Maryland health officials, who arranged for the patient to be transported to the Baltimore hospital.