REPORTS: No ‘Ebola Case’ at Sherman Hospital

kanecountyconnects / October 14, 2014 / Comments Off / Health, Public Safety

The Courier-News and other media sources are reporting Tuesday that all the website reports about an Ebola virus case at Sherman Advocate Hospital in Elgin is a lot of bunk.

The Daily Herald reports in an article updated Tuesday that a person was confirmed to have been admitted to the hospital complaining of flu-like symptoms after having made a trip to Africa. As per protocol, the hospital reported the case to the Center for Disease Control and put the patient in isolation, where he or she was examined by doctors wearing protective gear.

It was quickly determined that the patient was not an Ebola victim, and the patient was released, Tonya Lucchetti-Hudson, director of public affairs and marketing, told both newspapers.

According to the local media, at least two websites were responsible for propagating rumors of an Ebola case at the hospital: abovetopsecret.com and ebolastrain.com.

Both newspaper sources said rumors about the virus have run rampant in recent weeks.

Kane County Health Department Communications Coordinator Tom Schlueter said the Health Department was not planning to issue a press release simply because there was nothing to report. “It never met the case definition,” he said.

To learn more about the Ebola virus from a reliable source, visit the Kane County Health Department website.

The webpage includes the CDC’s Guidelines for Evaluation of US Patients Suspected of Having Ebola Virus .