Brief infectious disease scare at Arlington Hts. clinic

A Northwest Community Hospital clinic in Arlington Heights went into a brief lockdown Friday after a patient who had recently been on a mission trip to Africa walked in complaining of flu-like symptoms.

However, after extensive interviewing, the lockdown was canceled and the patient was released, Village President Tom Hayes said, because the person had been in eastern Africa and not in western Africa, where more than 5,600 people infected with Ebola have died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Hayes said he believed the patient had been on a mission trip building churches in Kenya, which is a center for air traffic from all over the African continent but has had no confirmed cases of the virus.

The patient was identified only as a male, and his age is unknown.

Officials took the dramatic step of closing the medical office at 1051 W. Rand Road as a precaution on Friday. Hayes said he was being continually briefed by acting Village Manager Diane Mikula during the quarantine.

Arlington Heights police and fire officials rushed to the clinic about 1 p.m. on a report that a patient had walked in with a possible infectious disease. Authorities determined there was no risk but would not say whether any medical tests were done on the man, citing privacy laws, Arlington Heights Fire Lt. William Rodgers said.

A woman answering the phone said the clinic was closed for the day, but when a Daily Herald reporter arrived about 2:45 p.m. the clinic appeared to be operating normally. Employees there also declined to comment, and a hospital spokeswoman couldn't be reached.

"I'm 100 percent sure they're following proper protocol," Hayes said.

Amy Poore, a spokeswoman for the Cook County Department of Public Health, said there are no cases of Ebola or persons under investigation for Ebola in suburban Cook County. She didn't have any information on the brief lockdown in Arlington Heights.

Gov. Pat Quinn's staff was not immediately available for comment Friday. Quinn earlier this month ordered state health officials to enforce mandatory, 21-day home quarantines for people "who have had direct contact with an individual infected" in western Africa.

Illinois Department of Public Health Director LaMar Hasbrouck said at the time the home quarantine applies only for the highest-risk cases and won't be used for medical workers if they wore personal protective equipment correctly while treating Ebola patients in West Africa.