Dallas hospital isolates possible Ebola patient

DALLAS — A Dallas hospital is holding a patient in "strict isolation" as that person is being evaluated for possible exposure to the deadly Ebola virus.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas said in a statement Monday that the patient's symptoms and recent travel indicated a case of Ebola, the virus that has killed more than 3,000 people across West Africa and infected a handful of Americans who have traveled to that region.

The hospital said it is complying with all recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Texas Department of Health to ensure the safety of other patients and medical staff.

Preliminary results of tests on the patient are expected from the CDC on Tuesday.

On Sunday, a doctor exposed to the Ebola virus was admitted to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., the NIH said in a statement.

The patient, who was flown from Africa to Frederick, Md., was taken by ambulance to nearby Bethesda for observation and to enroll in a clinical protocol, NIH said.

The doctor was volunteering in Sierra Leone when he or she was exposed to the virus, NIH said.

The patient was admitted "out of an abundance of caution" and will be at the NIH Clinical Center for observation, NIH said.

At the United Nations General Assembly last week, President Obama described the Ebola outbreak as "a growing threat to regional and global security." Earlier, he had announced the United States would establish a new military command in Liberia and build 17 Ebola treatment centers in the region.

According to the CDC, Ebola symptoms can include fever, muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding, and can appear as long as 21 days after exposure to the virus.

Four other patients have been treated at hospitals in Georgia and Nebraska.

Contributing: WUSA-TV, Washington, D.C., and The Associated Press