A woman who fell ill aboard a Pentagon bus Friday, sparking an Ebola scare, does not have the deadly disease, Arlington County officials said. A quarantine placed on seven Pentagon police who came in contact with the woman, as well as the 22 Marines aboard the bus, will be lifted, officials said.
The woman, a private contractor for the Pentagon, originally told first responders she had recently been in West Africa, the center of the Ebola outbreak. But investigators with the Defense Department found no evidence to support that claim and don’t believe she visited there.
The unidentified woman boarded the shuttle bus shortly before 10 a.m. to head for a change-of-command ceremony in Washington, D.C., for the Marine Corps Commandant. She suddenly fell ill, got off the bus, passed out, and then vomited in the Pentagon parking lot. She was taken by ambulance to a medical facility for treatment, including a blood test. The massive parking lot was closed and cordoned off, and the Marines aboard the bus were temporarily quarantined.
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