California public health officials on wednesday declined to disclose the identity of a Sacramento patient who is being tested for the Ebola virus after returning from one of the West African countries affected by the growing outbreak of the disease.


They refused to reveal the patient's gender, age, which West African country he or she had traveled to and how the exposure may have happened, citing federal health privacy laws. But they said the patient, who is being kept in isolation at Kaiser Permanente's South Sacramento Medical Center, developed symptoms during the 21-day period, it takes
the deadly disease to incubate after returning from Africa, warranting being tested.


Still, health experts said they believe the
likelihood the patient actually has Ebola is slim. National, state and local health
authorities are exercising "an abundance of caution" to protect the public's health. "While we should be aware of the disease and its symptoms, it is unlikely Ebola poses a significant public health threat at this time," said Dr. Gil Chavez, deputy director for the Center for Infectious Diseases and state epidemiologist at the California Department of Public Health, during a telephone news conference Wednesday.

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