New York doctor now Ebola free, will be released from hospital

Dr. Craig Spencer, shown here in a photo from his LinkedIn profile, is now Ebola-free.

Dr. Craig Spencer, who was diagnosed with Ebola in New York City last month, is now free of the virus and will be released from the hospital Tuesday, city officials said.

"Dr. Spencer poses no public health risk and will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow," the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation said in a statement Monday.

Spencer, a Doctors Without Borders physician, became the first person to test positive for the deadly virus in the city when he was diagnosed last month after returning from treating patients in Guinea.

Officials said Spencer, 33, was hospitalized after developing a fever, nausea, pain and fatigue.

He has been in isolation at New York's Bellevue Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment.

Word that Spencer went for a jog, traveled the city's vast subway system and went bowling before his diagnosis sparked fears that the number of Ebola cases could grow in the city, but authorities stressed that the risk of him spreading the virus was low.

After being released, he is expected to go to his apartment in the New York City neighborhood of Hamilton Heights.

New York's mayor, hospital and health officials are scheduled to hold a press conference Wednesday to discuss the doctor's discharge. Spencer is also set to speak, officials.

The physician, who is employed at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, began work on a number of projects in Africa in recent years, including in Rwanda where he worked to help develop an emergency care teaching curriculum.

He completed his work treating Ebola patients in Guinea on October 12 and left Africa two days later via Europe, arriving at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport on October 17. He was diagnosed with Ebola on October 23 - the same day he contacted Doctors Without Borders to report that he had a fever.

Spencer is one of several Americans who've been diagnosed with Ebola, successfully treated in the United States and released from the hospital.