WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
Pentagon was gripped by an Ebola scare on Friday after a woman vomited
in a parking lot, triggering authorities to send in a HazMat team and
shut off part of the military complex before concluding she did not have
the deadly virus.
The Pentagon initially said in a statement that the woman indicated she had "recently visited Africa."
But
her employer told Reuters she had not traveled abroad recently and
local county health authorities later acknowledged that her travel
history had been uncertain.
"Based
on the public health investigation, which included the travel history
of a woman who became ill this morning in a Pentagon parking lot ...
medical authorities are confident that she does not have Ebola," the
local health authorities said in a statement.
The public health investigation also included questioning of the woman by medical staff, they said.
There has been mounting
alarm in the United States about the risks from Ebola after two nurses
who cared for an Ebola patient in Texas contracted the virus. Ebola has
killed more than 4,500 people, mostly in West Africa.
The
incident outside the Pentagon triggered emergency protocols. The
Arlington County Fire Department sent emergency medical aid and a HazMat
response team, and the Pentagon closed down part of the parking lot and
one of its entrances.
Since
the woman had briefly boarded a bus before falling ill, the vehicle and
its passengers were stopped for about four hours, one passenger
recounted to Reuters. The passengers included uniformed Marines headed
to a Marine Corps ceremony attended by top brass and U.S. Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagel.
The Pentagon later said the passengers were being screened.
"An
investigation of this person and her illness led investigators to
believe at the time that they were potentially dealing with a person
with an infectious disease," it said.
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