A woman who had traveled from the West African nation of Guinea just a few weeks ago suddenly dropped dead in New York City with, as witnesses testified, blood coming from her "face, nose [and] mouth," but health officials have quickly said that she has tested negative for the Ebola virus.
According to a report in Britain's Daily Mail online, the 40-year-old woman had been in Guinea, one of three West African nations hardest-hit by the deadly virus, just three weeks ago. And though the New York City Health Department has declared her clear of the virus, the Fire Department (FDNY) medical units who responded after she collapsed at a city hair salon were nonetheless decked out in full hazmat gear.
So far, her identity has not been released, but, MailOnline reported, "an eyewitness who saw the woman... said there was blood coming from her 'face, nose and mouth.'"
A male worker at the salon, called Amy Professional African Hair Braiding, said everything was "business as normal" at the establishment. He also said that the woman was visiting the owner of the business, Amy Cisse, and had confirmed that she recently traveled from West Africa.
'Face, nose, mouth, everything'
"She was in Guinea three weeks ago and they were monitoring her," the male worker said. "We were told she had had a heart attack, but now we are hearing that she may be tested for Ebola."
The deceased woman was born in Guinea, MailOnline reported, quoting the salon worker. The report said the woman was not a healthcare worker and therefore was not subjected to a 21-day quarantine imposed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in October, to prevent the deadly virus from spreading throughout the city. MailOnline said that, as of early this week, the New York Department of Health was keeping tabs on 293 people per the state's (and the city's) Ebola monitoring protocols.
MailOnline further reported:
On Tuesday evening, a Hazmat team was back on the scene to run tests, setting up across the street from the hair salon.
It was not clear why Amy Professional Hair Braiding would not have been evacuated until it was certain the woman did not have Ebola.
The salon was decontaminated late on Tuesday by a Hazmat crew.
According to a source who was on the scene, the incident occurred just after 3pm on Tuesday.
Emergency medical response personnel pronounced the woman dead at the scene.
"We were in the building and all the sudden the other owner came from the store and he said somebody dropped dead in their store," said a man named Costa, who works next door to the salon. He added that he ran into the salon and found the woman lying on the floor.
When asked by reporters where she was bleeding, he answered: "Face, nose, mouth, everything."
'Non-Ebola incident'?
FDNY personnel in hazmat gear said they donned protective equipment before going into the store in response to a "fever travel illness." The emergency medical personnel also said that they found a "clean scene" -- no body fluids leaving the woman's body at all, which of course does not square with eyewitness accounts.
In October, the FDNY issued a memo instructing all personnel to refer to Ebola in more vague terms, such as "fever travel incident."
New York City health authorities were on the scene to take blood samples from the woman, the MailOnline report said. Those personnel, along with emergency responders, were all run through decontamination processes.
In a statement to ABC News, an unnamed NYC health official said:
Earlier today, an individual who came to the U.S. from one of the three Ebola-impacted nations in West Africa within last three weeks died of an apparent non-Ebola condition. This individual at no time showed any symptoms of Ebola. However, due to travel history and an abundance of caution, an Ebola test will be performed on this individual's remains. Test results are expected later tonight or early tomorrow morning.
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