The New Jersey Department of Health (DOH) said a Neptune resident who fell sick after recently returning from Africa does not have Ebola.

Ebola-CDC brief
This photo provided by the CDC shows an Ebola virus. (AP Photo/CDC)
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The statement released Wednesday morning by DOH said the man is "being treated for a non-contagious travel-related illness. Ebola has been ruled out."

Officials said the man had traveled to an African country not currently affected by Ebola.

NJ1015.com learned that the 66-year-old patient contracted malaria during a visit to Nigeria about three weeks ago. The information comes from Lakewood Police Chief Rob Lawson, who said that officers were summoned to a WaWa on County Line Road in the township at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The individual, who remains unidentified, lapsed in and out of consciousness, was subject to vomiting fits and registered a fever of 105 degrees, Lawson said.

He was transferred to Monmouth Medical Center South. Police traced his car’s registration to an address in Neptune. He did not exhibit bleeding from orifices that characterizes Ebola, Lawson said.

Malaria is contracted through bites by infected mosquitos. It is not contagious through human-to-human contact.

More than 11,000 people are estimated to have been killed by Ebola since March 2014, with most of the deaths in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

 

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