Follow
According to city officials, the body of a woman who died of an apparent heart attack in Brooklyn Tuesday will be tested for the Ebola virus as a precaution, since she was recently in the West African country of Guinea. The woman was not showing any symptoms of the disease at the time of death.
The woman had recently traveled to Guinea, one of the three main Ebola-affected countries along with Liberia and Sierra Leone and was one of the roughly 350 people that the city is monitoring for symptoms. The woman, whose identity was not immediately released, returned from West Africa 18 days ago.
The ambulance crew and engine company who responded to this scene will now have to self-monitor. It’s not clear if they will officially join the city’s watch list.
The 40-year-old woman was sitting in a chair at Amy’s Professional African Hair Braiding in the Brownsville section of New York having her hair done when she dropped dead in her salon chair at 2:30 p.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene from a heart attack.
[quote]“Before death, this individual showed no symptoms of Ebola,”[/quote]
the agency said in a statement Tuesday night.
[quote]“However due to travel history within the 21 day incubation period and an abundance of caution, an Ebola test will be performed on this individual’s remains.”[/quote]
[quote]”Earlier today, an individual who came to the US 18 days ago from one of the West African countries with ongoing Ebola transmission died suddenly of an apparent heart attack. Before death, this individual showed no symptoms of Ebola. However due to travel history within the 21 day incubation period and an abundance of caution, an Ebola test will be performed on this individual’s remains. Test results are expected early tomorrow morning,”[/quote]
The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a statement.
They shut down the hair salon and took a number of other precautions. The remains of the woman, whose name has not been released, were taken away. Test results are expected back Wednesday.
[quote]”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. He then ran where the scene was and found her lying on the floor,”[/quote]
a man who works in the building next door who goes by the name of Costa said. When he was asked what the woman was bleeding from, he said:
[quote]”Face, nose, mouth, everything.”[/quote]
