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Physician Craig Spencer, a volunteer with Doctors Without Borders, was running around the city for a week with girlfriend Morgan Dixon before testing positive for the Ebola virus at Bellevue Hospital on Thursday night.
Here are some facts that New Yorkers should know about Ebola:
■ Ebola is spread through direct contact with blood or other body fluids of an infected person, such as saliva, vomit, breast milk and sweat. It can’t be spread through the air.
■ The disease is caused by an infection from one of four Ebola viruses, which attack cells in the body.
■ Symptoms include a severe headache, a fever of at least 100.4 degrees, muscle pain, throwing up, diarrhea, bruising, coughing up blood, chills and stomach pain.
■ After being exposed to Ebola, the incubation period is typically two to 21 days to contract it, although a small number of cases may take longer.
■ Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, all in West Africa, are the three countries that have been hit hardest.
■ The average fatality rate is about 50 percent. There is no vaccine for Ebola. Treatment includes antibodies from patients who have recovered, intravenous fluids and helping patients maintain their blood pressure and oxygen intake.
An FDNY hazmat team in protective gear decontaminates after transporting Ebola victim Craig Spencer.William Farrington■ Liberia has had 2,705 Ebola deaths out of 4,665 cases, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Police outside Spencer’s apartment on West 146th StreetChad Rachman■ Guinea has had 904 deaths out of 1,540 cases. Sierra Leone has had 1,259 deaths out of 3,706 cases.
■ Nigeria, which has had eight deaths, and Senegal, which had one case but no deaths, are now Ebola-free, says the World Health Organization.
■ Four people have contracted Ebola within the United States, and there has been one death. In Spain, a nurse contracted Ebola from a patient taken there for treatment.
Additional facts about Doctors Without Borders:
■ The humanitarian organization got its start during civil unrest in France in 1968, and was formally created in Paris in 1971, made up of an initial group of 300 volunteers.
■ It now has 30,000 workers in more than 60 countries treating medical emergencies, from Ebola to tuberculosis to cholera. Since founded, DWB has treated more than 100 million patients.
■ The group has treated 1,000 patients for Ebola — and the 1,000th survivor is a Liberian teen named Kollie James.
