Medical personnel leave a quarantined hotel in Skopje October 10, 2014. Macedonian authorities said on Friday there was only a 'small probability' a Briton who died in Skopje on Thursday had the Ebola virus, according to an initial analysis. (Ognen Teofilovski / Reuters / )
A Delta Air Lines plane was briefly quarantined on the tarmac of Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport on Friday due to an Ebola scare that turned out to be a false alarm, and an all-clear has been issued, airline and hospital officials said. A Delta spokesman said the concern began after a passenger on the flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport reported feeling unwell. The crew alerted authorities on the ground, and emergency medical teams met the plane when it landed at McCarran. After evaluating the passenger, it was determined 'this was not a communicable disease event,' airline spokesman Morgan Durrant said. The 160 passengers aboard were allowed to leave the plane after a brief delay caused by the scare, which turned out to be a false alarm, he said. University Medical Center spokeswoman Danita Cohen said her hospital had been preparing to receive a possible Ebola patients, but that it had been determined the passenger was not suffering from the disease. An airport spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment, and a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman also had no immediate information.
Death toll passes 4,000The World Health Organization said on Friday that the number of people known to have died in the worst Ebola outbreak on record has risen to 4,033 out of 8,399 cases in seven countries by the end of October 8.
The death toll includes 2,316 in Liberia, 930 in Sierra Leone, 778 in Guinea, eight in Nigeria and one in the United States. A separate Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 43 people out of 71 cases.
Macedonia
Doctors in Macedonia have 'serious indications' that alcohol, not Ebola, may have killed a British man visiting the Balkan country, a senior health official said on Friday.
The official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said doctors who initially treated the man suspected hemorrhagic fever, given his symptoms of fever, vomiting and internal bleeding. The Ebola virus causes hemorrhagic fever.
'The minute they (doctors) suspected that, they alerted supervisors, who isolated the body,' preventing doctors from carrying out an autopsy, the source said.
Now, he said: 'We have serious indications from several places that he consumed large amounts of alcohol, so the theory that this might be the cause of death is very much in play.'
The Skopje hotel where the Briton was staying remained in lockdown on Friday, guarded by police who have let none of the 25 people inside leave since Thursday. Ten more people are in isolation in hospital, including the ambulance crew.
Another Briton traveling with the man was quoted by a Macedonian news portal, Telegraf.mk, as denying he had been drinking heavily. 'He drank, but no more than anyone else,' he said.
If alcohol poisoning is confirmed as the cause of death, the episode would underscore the degree of panic and difficulty hospitals and governments face in responding to the threat of the disease spreading in Europe, with a nurse in Spain the first to have contracted Ebola outside of Africa.
Health officials in Macedonia say they were following guidelines issued by the World Health Organization, particularly after initial information that the man had recently traveled to Nigeria. Authorities said on Friday he had in fact last been in Africa six years ago.
'For three days he was closed in his hotel room, didn't go out and didn't eat. The maid was helping him dress,' said Dr. Jovanka Kostovska of the Health Ministry's commission for infectious diseases.
Kostovska said on Friday initial tests suggested only a 'small probability' the man died of Ebola, but that blood and tissue samples had been sent to Frankfurt for tests. The results are expected on Saturday.
SpainSeven more people have been admitted to a Spanish hospital unit monitoring possible Ebola cases where nurse Teresa Romero, the first person to contract the deadly virus outside West Africa, lay seriously ill on Friday.
With recriminations growing over how Romero became infected at the Madrid hospital, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said it was extremely unlikely that the disease would spread in Spain.
'Our first priority is Teresa Romero - she is the only person that we know has the illness,' he told reporters on the steps of the specially-adapted Carlos III hospital, surrounded by medical staff.
A hospital spokeswoman said 14 people were now under observation or being treated, including Romero's husband.
