Boy, 5, tested at Bellevue for possible symptoms of Ebola

NEW YORK -- A 5-year-old boy who had traveled to West Africa has been tested for Ebola after having possible symptoms of the virus, health officials say.

The boy was brought to Bellevue Hospital Sunday night.

He did not initially have a fever, but while at the hospital, he developed a low grade fever.

He had returned home to New York City Saturday after traveling to Guinea with his family.

Preliminary test results are expected by early afternoon.

The boy's mother is not showing any symptoms.

Meanwhile, the doctor who became infected with Ebola remains in serious, but stable condition as he undergoes treatment at Bellevue Hospital.

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation said that Dr. Craig Spencer is experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms and "is entering the next phase of his illness."

Spencer is said to be awake, communicating, and in good spirits.

HHC said Spencer is receiving antiviral therapy as well as plasma therapy. The therapies have been used to treat Ebola patients at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and at the Nebraska Medical Center.

Spencer received a plasma transfusion from Nancy Writebol, the U.S. aid worker who contracted Ebola while treating patients in Liberia but was later cured. They have the same blood type.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has visited the isolation unit where Spencer is being treated.

After Sunday's visit, de Blasio said New Yorkers shouldn't be alarmed about contracting the disease that has killed nearly 5,000 people, mostly in West Africa.

De Blasio says Spencer was "looking better" on Sunday.

The mayor and health officials note that Ebola is difficult to contract. It has to be transmitted through bodily fluids.

Many have criticized Spencer for not staying indoors after returning from Guinea, but de Blasio said this should not be a case of blaming the victim.

"This is a hero who went to fight for all of us. We need more good men and women like that and they need to know that we will have their back every step of the way," said the mayor.

Dr. Spencer's fiancee, Morgan Dixon, is being quarantined in her Hamilton Heights apartment, where she will remain for 21 days.

The apartment was thoroughly sterilized after Spencer was diagnosed with Ebola.

"She is required to stay in that apartment, she is able to receive deliveries to that apartment, but she is unfortunately not allowed to receive visitors," said the city's deputy health commissioner, Dr. Jay Varma.

City officials stressed that Dixon and two other people Spencer came in contact with are completely healthy.

Spencer's is the only confirmed Ebola case in New York.

His case prompted the governors of New York and New Jersey to declare a mandatory quarantine for travelers who have been exposed to Ebola in West Africa.

(Some information in this story is from the Associated Press.)