A Tarrant County resident who recently returned home from a humanitarian trip to West Africa has tested negative for Ebola, according to Tarrant County Public Health.
Andy Perkins, founder and executive director of the non-profit group BESTWA, told NBC 5 he recently returned from a trip to Liberia but days later began to feel ill.
“The next day I started having a low-grade fever and just intestinal upset, and it just wouldn’t go away. It would go away for like a day and then come back, and so today, early this morning, was the third time it had come back,” said Perkins.
He said he went to the Veterans Administration Hospital, where he typically receives medical treatment, and was then transferred to UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Tarrant County resident, who traveled to Liberia, has tested NEGATIVE for #Ebola.
— TCPH (@TCPHtweets) May 2, 2015
The Ebola test results came back negative within three hours, according to Perkins.
“Yeah, of course, it’s a relief knowing that that’s not the case,” said Perkins.
Neither he nor medical personnel believed he suffered from Ebola, according to Perkins, and the state health department echoed that sentiment, telling NBC 5 earlier in the day that, “based on the clinical pictures, health officials agree that the need for testing is essentially non-existent. We are not concerned that this is going to be positive result.”
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Still, health officials worked out of an abundance of caution.
According to the group's website, BESTWA operates three feeding stations which provide nutritious meals to over 900 children per day.
