Maine Medical Center was holding a patient under observation Monday as a precaution under new federal guidelines developed to contain the deadly outbreak of Ebola that began in West Africa.

The decision was made on the recommendation of state and federal health officials, but the Portland hospital emphasized in a news release that there was no confirmation that the patient was infected with the virus. This was confirmed by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We are not trying to scare people. This is a precautionary measure,” said Dr. Sheila Pinette, director of the Maine CDC. “This risk is extremely low.”

Pinette said her agency, in consultation with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommended that Maine Med place the patient under observation.

She said the patient is not showing any symptoms of Ebola. Symptoms start two days to three weeks after contracting the virus and include fever, sore throat, muscle pain, headaches, vomiting and diarrhea. Pinette declined to provide any further information, citing patient confidentiality, and expressed frustration that the media had learned that a person was being held under observation.

She would not say why, given the patient is showing no symptoms, the agency is recommending the person be held for observation. She also would not say whether the patient had recently traveled to West Africa, nor would she provide the gender or age of the patient.

Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the federal CDC, said late Monday that the Maine Med case is not isolated. Since July 1, the CDC has received inquiries from more than 150 health care providers and hospitals across the United States regarding patients exhibiting Ebola symptoms.

In each case, the health care provider consults with state health officials and the federal CDC to determine whether the patient in question should be placed under observation. Health care officials weigh an individual’s symptoms, possible exposure to an Ebola patient and where the individual has traveled within the past 21 days.

According to officials, patients suspected of Ebola are not being “held” for observation against their will. But federal guidelines recommend they be placed in isolation until blood tests confirm they are not infected.

Blood samples can be tested by the CDC’s laboratory or at 15 other labs across the U.S. Nordlund was uncertain how long it takes to get results.

PROTECTIVE APPAREL USED

Susan E. Pierter, a spokeswoman for Maine Med, said the hospital could not comment on its case due to patient confidentiality. An email to the hospital inquiring about the patient’s symptoms, whether the person had been to West Africa recently and if the person had been placed in isolation, was not answered. At the hospital Monday night, in the emergency room and on the main floor, activity appeared to be business as usual.

The hospital said it is using a higher level of protective apparel than that recommended by the CDC.

“We have trained employees in those policies and the use of the protective equipment and will continue to train all staff who are called upon to provide care,” Dr. August Valenti, an infectious disease specialist at Maine Med, said in a news release. “At Maine Medical Center, we take every precaution to ensure the safety of our patients, employees and the community.”

Earlier this month, Joshua Frances, the director of emergency management at Maine Med, said the hospital and other Maine medical facilities have adopted policies and procedures recommended by the CDC and the World Health Organization in August.

If someone were to come into the hospital with possible symptoms of Ebola, the staff at Maine Med would immediately isolate that patient in a safe area, he said. Medical workers would then don full body suits, including double gloves, double boots, a gown, full head covering and a shield for their eyes.

“They’d be brought to an isolation room, which is a negative air pressure room, to keep germs from spreading,” Frances said. “We do it all the time for things like tuberculosis.”

A patient diagnosed with Ebola would continue to be treated at Maine Med unless his or her condition deteriorated, Frances said. But the hospital is capable of treating the infection, he said.

SYSTEMIC FAILURES

But with a 26-year-old Dallas nurse infected in the same hospital where she treated a dying Ebola patient last week, federal officials Monday said the first transmission of the disease in the United States had revealed systemic failures in preparation that must “substantially” change in coming days, The Washington Post reported Monday.

“We have to rethink the way we address Ebola infection control, because even a single infection is unacceptable,” Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said at a news conference.

Federal, state and local health officials Monday raced to investigate how Nina Pham, a nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, became infected with Ebola. She was part of the team that treated Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian who succumbed to the virus Wednesday after more than a week at the hospital.

Officials have said Pham wore protective gear, including a gown, gloves, a mask and a face shield, while caring for Duncan on multiple occasions. But Ebola can easily infect those who come into contact with bodily fluids of Ebola patients, and the smallest slip in putting on or taking off protective gear can open the door to the virus, the Post reported.

Authorities on Monday also were working to determine how many other health-care workers at the hospital could have been exposed to the virus. About 70 staffers cared for Duncan, according to records obtained by the Associated Press.

“We need to consider the possibility that there could be additional cases, particularly among the health-care workers who cared for (Duncan) when he was so ill,” Frieden said. “We would not be surprised if we did see additional cases.”

EBOLA SCARES

The current Ebola outbreak, the worst on record, has infected more than 8,400 and killed more than 4,000 people, mostly in West Africa’s Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Massachusetts had an Ebola scare Sunday as dozens of workers and patients were quarantined for hours at a Braintree medical facility, but fears that a man had been infected with the deadly virus appeared unfounded, according to the Associated Press.

Doctors at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston concluded that the man, who recently visited Liberia and was complaining of a headache and body aches, “does not appear to meet CDC criteria to be considered someone at high risk for Ebola, and the likelihood of Ebola virus disease is extremely low,” according to a hospital statement.

On Monday at Logan International Airport in Boston, a hazardous materials crew responded to a United Arab Emirates flight from Dubai in which some passengers were showing flu-like symptoms. None of the ill passengers had been traveling in West Africa, according to the Associated Press. Preliminary tests on at least two of those passengers came back negative for Ebola, and the other passengers were released from the plane.

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey contributed to this story.

Tom Bell can be contacted at 791-6369 or at:

tbell@pressherald.com