WORCESTER (
MyFoxBoston.com) -- Dr. Richard Sacra, who returned home to Massachusetts in September after being treated for the Ebola virus, is suffering from a cold, according to Dr. Robert Finberg, the chair of medicine at UMass Memorial Medical Center.
"He acted very responsibly" in seeking medical attention, Dr. Finberg said in a press conference at UMass Memorial. "He had a fever and a cough. He had a fever of about 101 [degrees]."
Sacra was the third American to be diagnosed with Ebola, contracting the disease while helping others in Liberia. He was treated at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha where he was declared free of the virus. He was discharged on Sept. 25 after spending three weeks in an isolation unit and passing three CDC tests to prove he had no trace of the illness.
He is currently in an isolation unit at UMass Memorial out of precaution and is awaiting CDC approval before he can be moved.
On Saturday, Sacra went to a Boston-area hospital before being transferred to UMass Memorial. He had been suffering from a persistent cough and low-grade fever. Dr. Finberg stressed that his illness was not a second coming of Ebola.
"He does not feel, nor do we feel, that this has anything to do with Ebola," Dr. Finberg said.
Dr. Sacra's current symptoms, Dr. Finberg said, do not match up with the Ebola virus, which can include diarrhea and cull the will to eat. According to Dr. Finberg, Dr. Sacra is eating and feeling better.
"He seems to be in good spirits," Dr. Finberg said. "The fact that he's eating is a very good sign."
