Massachusetts Patient With Ebola Symptoms Put In Isolation

(Reuters) - A medical clinic in Braintree, Massachusetts, near Boston was evacuated and a patient has been isolated because of his recent travel to West Africa (specifically Liberia) and medical symptoms, the Boston Globe reported on Sunday.

Reports indicate the patient came in with a headache and other Ebola-like symptoms, including muscle aches. Two people seem to have been transported from the clinics in ambulances. They were taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, according to a statement from Harvard Vanguard Clinics' Chief of Infectious Disease Ben Kruskal.

According to the Boston Herald:

A Brewster ambulance left with the patient just before 4 p.m., with a police escort. The ambulance driver was wearing a hazmat suit and a facemask. The convoy's destination could not be immediately confirmed. A second person was later brought out on a stretcher in a hazmat suit and placed in a second ambulance.

The rest of the clinic patients weren't allowed to leave for a short time, but according to Kruskal's statement, below, the clinic has been reopened.

"Ebola protocol is in place," the Globe quoted Braintree fire official Joe Zanca as saying. A statement from Harvard Vanguard Medical Center was released, saying these precautions were taken "out of an abundance of caution."

(Reporting by Peter Cooney in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)