EBOLA PANIC GROWS OVER SPREAD OF DEADLY DISEASE

From American airliners to British buses, number of Ebola false alarms mounts as panic grows over spread of deadly disease

Scare at Liverpool coach station after passenger collapsed and vomited
Medical staff boarded coach in protective gear and removed the woman
Doctors at Royal Liverpool Hospital confirmed she did not have Ebola
Another scare when man yelled 'I have Ebola!' on flight from Philadelphia
Four Hazmat officers rushed onto US Airways plane to Dominican Republic
In Australia a plane made emergency landing when passenger vomited blood
Tests show Czech man with symptoms of Ebola does not in fact have virus
Woman in Taiwan tested negative for Ebola after showing symptoms of virus
CDC is handling more than 800 false alarms a day from worried Americans
Dallas County sheriff tested negative after being in Thomas Duncan's flat

By Annabel Grossman for MailOnline

Published: 08:40 EST, 10 October 2014 | Updated: 18:10 EST, 10 October 2014

Fears surrounding the spread of Ebola have led to a string of false alarms by people fearing they have caught or been exposed to the killer disease.

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) attempts to tackle the flood of worried Americans - with more than 800 Ebola false alarms coming in each day - a flurry of incidents have seen Hazmat officers boarding planes.

On the other side of the Atlantic, last night a Liverpool coach station found itself at the centre of an Ebola scare after a female passenger arriving from London collapsed and vomited, with others on the bus seen sprinting from the scene.

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Last night Liverpool coach station was at the centre of an Ebola scare after a female passenger arriving from London collapsed and vomited, with others on the bus seen sprinting from the scene.
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Last night Liverpool coach station was at the centre of an Ebola scare after a female passenger arriving from London collapsed and vomited, with others on the bus seen sprinting from the scene.

Medical staff boarded the coach in protective gear and removed the elderly woman, who is from Africa, wearing a protective garment and face mask.

The woman was taken to Royal Liverpool Hospital where doctors confirmed she did not have the disease. It is understood she was feeling feverish and also had stroke symptoms.

Witnesses described panic as the coach arrived at around 9.30pm with ambulance and police waiting.

epa04437722 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Dr. Tom Frieden gives a press briefing on the Ebola virus response at the agency's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 08 October 2014. The US is adding passenger screening at five US airports for travelers arriving from the affected west African nations, which will including checking for fever. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER 'Ebola is the next AIDS': CDC chief warns of global health catastrophe as leaders of West African... Ebola screening shambles as Gatwick officials say they haven't been told about new measures and...
Into the eye of the storm: US Marines arrive in Ebola hotbed of Liberia to help stop the spread of...

An onlooker said: 'There were loads of people on the coach and people were running and panicking when they got off.

'The ambulance service and police were there to meet it so I think the driver must have telephoned ahead. It was coming in from London.

'People wearing protective clothing got on to the coach and after a time brought the woman off. They put her in some sort of protective garment and a mask. It looked like a full alert.'
Another scare saw a Hazmat team rush on to a plane from Philadelphia in the Dominican Republic after a man sneezed and yelled: 'I have Ebola!'
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Another scare saw a Hazmat team rush on to a plane from Philadelphia in the Dominican Republic after a man sneezed and yelled: 'I have Ebola!'

National Express confirmed the station was closed for half an hour as a precautionary measure.

Another scare involved a Hazmat team rush on to a plane from Philadelphia in the Dominican Republic after a man sneezed and yelled: 'I have Ebola!'

The American passenger, who does not have Ebola, was detained by four officers and taken to the airport's medical center in Punta Cana as he declared: 'I ain't from Africa'.

The remaining 255 people were forced to stay on board for two hours until he was cleared, despite airline staff insisting they believed it was a poor-taste joke.

The man had reportedly been sneezing and coughing through the four-hour US Airways flight - an early sign of the often fatal disease.

A video taken by one of the passengers in the middle of the Boeing 777 shows passengers standing up ready to leave before a flight attendant on a speakerphone tells everyone to sit down.

Airline passenger escorted off the plane after Ebola scare
Quarantine officials examined the plane and the man was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for treatment. The 'unbalanced' man made the 'poor-taste joke' for attention, officials deduced in an interview
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Quarantine officials examined the plane and the man was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for treatment. The 'unbalanced' man made the 'poor-taste joke' for attention, officials deduced in an interview

The Ebola virus causes fever, vomiting and diarrhoea and sometimes internal bleeding, and is spread through direct contact with body fluids. About half of those infected in West Africa have died.

In Australia, a Jetstar plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a seriously ill passenger was reportedly vomiting blood on board on Wednesday night.

A man in his 50s was greeted by paramedics and quarantine officials, including a woman wearing a white Hazmat suit, at Sydney airport after the Darwin-bound flight was forced to turn back.

Staff wore protective gloves as they carried the sick traveller across the tarmac on a stretcher and a bright yellow protective plastic bag was also placed on the stretcher.

Around 140 people were on board the flight, which had been in the sky for around an hour when the decision was made to turn back.
The remaining 255 people were forced to stay on board for two hours until he was cleared, despite airline staff insisting they believed it was a poor-taste joke
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The remaining 255 people were forced to stay on board for two hours until he was cleared, despite airline staff insisting they believed it was a poor-taste joke
A flight attendant warned passengers an 'idiot' had provoked them to call a Hazmat team on board
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A flight attendant warned passengers an 'idiot' had provoked them to call a Hazmat team on board

Quarantine officials examined the plane and the man was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for treatment.

The other passengers were offered hotel rooms after their flight was subsequently cancelled.

A Jetstar spokesman told AAP the man was not suffering from Ebola.

'(He) was vomiting, and it was clear (he was) quite unwell,' he said. He added that the passenger had a pre-existing medical condition that concerned the medical advisory team.

The spokesperson would not disclose the medical condition, but said it was not contagious and there is now no concern of Ebola.

France’s health minister Marisol Touraine today said that tests on a suspected Ebola sufferer at the Bichat hospital in Paris had proved negative.
Jetstar plane headed to Darwin turned around mid-flight
A man in his 50s was greeted by paramedics and quarantine officials, including a woman wearing a white Hazmat suit, at Sydney airport after the Darwin-bound flight was forced to turn back.
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A man in his 50s was greeted by paramedics and quarantine officials, including a woman wearing a white Hazmat suit, at Sydney airport after the Darwin-bound flight was forced to turn back.

The unnamed female American patient had been travelling in Africa, Ms Touraine said, but she was not suffering from the fatal disease.

'There have been no cases of Ebola in France, and this remains the case,' she added.

This morning, tests showed that a man in Prague hospitalised with symptoms of Ebola does not have the virus, said Czech Health Minister Svatopluk Nemecek.

'Laboratory tests did not confirm Ebola,' he told Czech Radio, confirming earlier media reports. 'There is a suspicion of malaria and further checks need to be done. The essential thing is that it is not Ebola.'

The 56-year-old Czech businessman who had recently travelled in Liberia was put in isolation at a Prague hospital on Thursday with signs of the virus.

Authorities in Taiwan tested a Nigerian woman for Ebola, after she showed symptoms of the virus, but it was revealed earlier today that she tested negative Ebola. She reportedly had a history of malaria.
Around 140 people were on board the flight, which had been in the sky for around an hour when the decision was made to turn back

Around 140 people were on board the flight, which had been in the sky for around an hour when the decision was made to turn back
Quarantine officials examined the plane and the man was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for treatment
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Quarantine officials examined the plane and the man was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for treatment

In the Unites States, since Thomas Duncan became 'America's patient zero' on September 30, the CDC says it has received more than 800 calls per day from local health workers and other officials desperate to know if their patient has Ebola.

In all cases except Mr Duncan's, that answer has been an emphatic no.

On Wednesday, a Harlem man checked into Bellevue hospital complaining of a fever and was initially treated as a potential Ebola case, according to the New York Post.

The man had recently traveled from Nigeria and was suffering from diarrhea and vomiting, but was apparently given the okay.
Sergeant Michael Monnig tested negative for Ebola after spending 24 hours under observation
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Sergeant Michael Monnig tested negative for Ebola after spending 24 hours under observation

In Washington, DC, Ebola was ruled out as a potential cause of illness in a man at Howard University Hospital just days after Mr Duncan's diagnosis.

Around the same time, at nearby George Washington University, a patient was found to have the flu and not Ebola, as was initially feared.

On Wednesday, an American Airlines flight landed at Midland airport in Texas and passengers filed out wearing masks after a passenger 'exhibited one symptom of the Ebola virus on a flight from Dallas'. She too, experts ruled, is Ebola-free.

Sergeant Michael Monnig, a Dallas County sheriff, tested negative for Ebola after spending 24 hours under observation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.

He had entered the Dallas apartment where Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan stayed before he was admitted to the hospital. He had no protective clothing and spent about 30 minutes inside.

One week later, he showed up at an urgent care clinic in Frisco, Texas, and complained of stomach pains - which are among the common symptoms of the early stages of Ebola.

'Mr Monnig’s condition is good with no fever, no vomiting, no diarrhea reported. His current condition is NOT consistent with an early stage Ebola diagnosis,' the hospital said.

Public health officials have said from the beginning that Sgt Monnig's chances of contracting the disease during his short time in the apartment were next to nothing.

'The risk is extremely low because this individual didn't have contact with the Ebola patient, but we want to err on the side of caution,' Texas health commissioner Dr David Lakey said.

'We understand there's a lot of anxiety in the community, and we hope getting test results back will help calm those fears.'



NYC man cleared after being hospitalized for symptoms of Ebola | New York Post

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