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Passenger at Newark Airport being tested for Ebola

A man traveling from Liberia to Newark was hospitalized after he displayed potential symptoms of Ebola after landing at Newark Liberty Airport.

By Gabrielle Levy
Attendees along with Medical and union officials watch a demonstration of the dressing and removal of an Ebola medial suit at an "Ebola Educational Session" at Javits Center North in New York City on October 21, 2014. UPI/John Angelillo
Attendees along with Medical and union officials watch a demonstration of the dressing and removal of an Ebola medial suit at an "Ebola Educational Session" at Javits Center North in New York City on October 21, 2014. UPI/John Angelillo | License Photo

NEWARK, N.J., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A passenger who landed at Newark Liberty Airport Tuesday is being examined for a possible Ebola infection after traveling from West Africa.

"During the enhanced screening process for individuals arriving to the United States from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, an individual was identified as reporting symptoms or having a potential exposure to Ebola," said Carol Crawford, a Centers for Disease Control spokeswoman.

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Airport officials identified the passenger as displaying potential symptoms of Ebola during the enhanced screening process upon arrival.

"CDC or state/local public health officials will contact other passengers on the aircraft should it be determined that there was any risk to the other passengers of exposure to communicable disease," Crawford said.

The unidentified male traveler had arrived on a United Airlines flight from Brussels, and had begun his trip in Liberia, the worst-hit of the West African nations at the heart of the Ebola disease epidemic.

The passenger was transported to University Hospital, one of New Jersey's three Level 1 trauma centers, and the hospital was placed on lockdown. According to the Star-Ledger, yellow tape was strung across the emergency room entrance, and the parking lot attendant was preventing cars from entering.

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Newark Liberty is one of five airports in the U.S. that began implementing enhanced screenings of passengers arriving from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone in the past week.

The Department of Homeland Security began implementing tougher restrictions on passengers traveling from the Ebola hot zone Wednesday, which will limit travel from those countries to just those five airports: Newark, John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C., O'Hare Airport in Chicago and Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta.

More than 4,500 people have already died since the Ebola outbreak began in February, and more than 9,000 cases have been identified, according to the World Health Organization's latest tally.

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