Plane Passengers Hospitalized Due To Ebola Concerns

An airline passenger was being evaluated at a hospital in Newark, New Jersey Tuesday due to Ebola concerns, reports CBS New York. Two others were hospitalized after getting off planes into Chicago.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson Carol Crawford said the Newark passenger was "identified as reporting symptoms or having a potential exposure to Ebola" during the enhanced screening process for those arriving in the U.S. from the West African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

"(The) 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 continued.

The Record newspaper reported that the passenger was on a flight from Liberia that went through Brussels before arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport Tuesday afternoon. The passenger was held briefly at customs at Terminal C at the airport and was then sequestered from the other passengers from the flight, the newspaper reported.

The CDC didn't name the hospital, but the newspaper reported there was a "flurry of activity" near University Hospital in Newark Tuesday night.

In Chicago, two passengers who took ill while flying into O'Hare from Liberia have become the first to test the city's new Ebola protocols, although officials say they see no evidence that either has the deadly disease, according to CBS Chicago.

One of the passengers, a child, reportedly vomited during the flight and is now being quarantined at University of Chicago Medical Center. The child was screened by federal authorities and found to have no fever and no other Ebola symptoms other than vomiting.

Separately, an adult also traveling from Liberia reported nausea and diarrhea. That passenger was taken to Rush University Medical Center for evaluation. That person is being monitored, but has not been tested for Ebola.

The two passengers are not related and were not traveling together, says CBS Chicago.

Customs and Border Protection officers earlier this month started screening passengers from West Africa who arrived at John F. Kennedy, Newark Liberty, Washington's Dulles, Chicago's O'Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airports.

Since the screenings started Oct. 11, at New York's Kennedy, 562 people have been checked at the five airports, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Of those, four who arrived at Washington's Dulles airport were taken to a local hospital. No cases of Ebola have been discovered.