Ebola scare at Pentagon proves baseless

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon on Friday re-opened a building entrance and a parking lot after a brief Ebola scare proved baseless, defense officials said.
The scare was prompted by a woman who vomited in the parking lot on Friday morning and told emergency workers that she had recently visited West Africa, the Defense Department said.
As a precaution, Pentagon police had closed an entrance and a part of the department's vast parking lot, while the woman was taken to a local hospital.
But doubts emerged later as to whether she ever had traveled to Africa and authorities found no evidence that she had contracted the virus.
The woman worked for a lobbying firm in Washington, Total Spectrum, and the company said she had never been sent to Africa on business.
"She's never been to Africa for pleasure or work," a representative of the company, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
The firm also did not have any projects in Africa and its work was focused on lobbying and public relations in the US capital, the official said.
The incident – which created a stir online for several hours – underscored mounting anxiety over the deadly virus, which has killed more than 4,500 people in West Africa.
A Liberian man died from the disease in Texas on October 8, and two American nurses who treated him have also tested positive for the virus.
Pentagon police officers at 9.10am (1310 GMT) had spotted the woman in the parking lot "who was ill and vomiting," the Defense Department said in an earlier statement.
"During the response, the individual indicated that she had recently visited Africa," it said.
"Out of an abundance of caution, all pedestrian and vehicular traffic was suspended around the South Parking lot," and one entrance to the sprawling office building was also closed, it said.
An Arlington County hazardous material team responded quickly and within less than an hour the woman was taken to a local hospital in northern Virginia, outside the US capital.
A US defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the woman was on a shuttle bus that was heading to a ceremony at the US Marine Corps barracks in Washington, attended by top brass and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
The event marked a change of command for the head of the Marine Corps.
Following the incident, the passengers on the shuttle bus were kept isolated for a few hours before officials determined there was no health risk. – AFP