While authorities said Spencer attempted to self-quarantine after feeling ill, and Bassett noted he took his temperature twice a day, he went on a 3-mile run and went bowling. Police first thought he was at a pair of bowling spots in Willliamsburg, Brooklyn, on Wednesday, but later said he was only at one. He took subways — the 1, A and L lines — went to the High Line and a restaurant and took an Uber cab home, officials said. ||||| Harlem Doctor Being Tested for Ebola View Full Caption 
 
 MIDTOWN — A doctor who recently returned from West Africa, where thousands have been stricken with Ebola, was quarantied at Bellevue Hospital Thursday evening to be tested for the deadly virus, officials said. 
 
 Dr. Craig Spencer, of West Harlem, returned to New York from Guinea within the past 21 days, the period during which for symptoms from the virus normally appear, and is now suffering from a 103-degree fever and gastrointestinal problems. 
 
 Mayor Bill de Blasio said it would not be known until late into Thursday night whether test results would show if Spencer had Ebola. 
 
 Health officials also were trying to track Spencer's movements in recent days as well as find those with whom he may have come into contact. Despite news reports saying Spencer visited a Brooklyn bowling alley Wednesday night, de Blasio cautioned that Spencer had come into direct contact with "very few" people 
 
 Spencer, who is listed on his LinkedIn page as a fellow of international Emergency Medicine at New York-Presbyterian, had been serving with Doctors Without Borders in Guinea. 
 
 A recent blog post from The Program on Force Migration and Health at Columbia University indicated that Spencer had been working on Ebola while he was in that country. 
 
 Spencer lives on West 147th Street with his fiancee, whose name DNAinfo is withholding, and the pair plan to marry next September in Detroit. 
 
 Reached by phone, Spencer's finacée declined comment. Staff at Bellevue Hospital's emergency room said a person who shared her name was a patient there, without providing additional information. 
 
 Tim Shenk, a spokesman for Doctors Without Borders, said the group received a call Thursday morning from the possible Ebola patient — whom sources identified to DNAinfo New York was Spencer — saying that he had "developed a fever." 
 
 Since his return from Guinea, Spencer had been following the agency's guidelines and was closely monitoring his health and reported the "development immediately," said Shenk. 
 
 "While at this stage there is no confirmation that the individual has contracted Ebola, Doctors Without Borders, in the interest of public safety and in accordance with its protocols, immediately notified the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which is directly managing the individual’s care," Shenk said. 
 
 Fire officials said they received a call from Spencer's West Harlem address at 11:52 a.m. Thursday. He was rushed to Bellevue by a specially trained ambulance unit wearing protective gear with the help of a police escort. 
 
 Hospital officials cautioned that Spencer's symptoms were also consistent with the stomach flu, malaria and other illnesses. 
 
 Sam Miller, associate commissioner for the Health Department, said outside Spencer's apartment building that the doctor's apartment was "sealed off." 
 
 According to a statement from New York-Presbyterian, Spencer has not been at work or seen patients since he returned from overseas. 
 
 "The physician is a dedicated humanitarian on the staff of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center who went to an area of medical crisis to help a desperately underserved population," the statement read. "He is a committed and responsible physician who always puts his patients first." 
 
 On Spencer's block, City Councilman Mark Levine handed out literature about Ebola and ways to prevent its spread. 
 
 "People are scared," Levine said. "People hear the word Ebola in their neighborhood and they are afraid." 
 
 Spencer's neighbor, John Roston, 38, a computer repairman, said he saw the doctor regularly. 
 
 "I see him all the time wearing scrubs," said Roston. "He lives in the hospital." 
 
 Spencer's wedding website says he met his future bride in China and that the pair traveled the world before moving to New York. 
 
 "Craig's friends say he's a goofball, incredible gifted in both art, music and science, and a go-getter," the website read. 
 
 De Blasio said that if Spencer ends up diagnosed with Ebola, it was likely that it had been caught early. 
 
 "When a case is caught early, a great deal can be done to resolve it," de Blasio said. 
 
 In addition to only having possible Ebola symptoms for a "brief period of time," de Blasio said that 'very few people were in direct contact with" Spencer. 
 
 "The patient is in good shape and has gone into a great deal of detail with our personnel about his actions over the last few days," de Blasio said. 
 
 Bellevue is equipped with a special isolation unit to deal with infectious diseases such as Ebola. 
 
 It is one of four hospitals in the city designated by the state last week to deal with any Ebola outbreaks. 
 
 De Blasio said that weeks of preparation by Bellevue had paid off when they were called into action Thursday. He said all of the protocols had been "followed very precisely." 
 
 No one in New York has been diagnosed with the disease to date. Thomas Eric Duncan, a 42-year-old Texan, contracted Ebola in Liberia and died in Dallas two weeks ago. Two nurses who treated him also contracted the virus. 
 
 Health officials called for calm. Individuals must come into contact with an infected person's bodily fluids to contract the virus. 
 
 "The chances of the average New Yorker contracting Ebola are extremely slim," Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a statement. "Ebola is spread by directly touching the bodily fluids of an infected person. You cannot be infected simply by being near someone who has Ebola." 
 
 Murray Weiss, Jim Fanelli and Ben Fractenberg contributed reporting. ||||| “Being on the same subway car or living near a person with Ebola does not in itself put someone at risk,” he said. 
 
 Dr. Spencer’s work in Africa and the timing of the onset of his symptoms led health officials to dispatch disease detectives, who “immediately began to actively trace all of the patient’s contacts to identify anyone who may be at potential risk,” according to a statement released by the health department. 
 
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 Dr. Spencer’s fiancée has also been quarantined at Bellevue. Two other friends, who had contact with him on Tuesday and Wednesday, have been told by the authorities that they too will be quarantined but whether they will isolate themselves in their homes or be relocated was still under discussion, according to a person briefed on the investigation. None of the three were showing signs of illness. 
 
 The driver of the taxi, arranged through the online service Uber, did not have direct contact with Dr. Spencer and was not considered to be at risk, officials said. 
 
 Speaking at the news conference, city officials said that while they were still investigating, they did not believe Dr. Spencer was symptomatic while he traveled around the city on Wednesday and therefore had not posed a risk to the public. 
 
 “He did not have a stage of disease that creates a risk of contagiousness on the subway,” Dr. Mary Bassett, the city health commissioner, said. “We consider it extremely unlikely, the probability being close to nil, that there will be any problem related to his taking the subway system.” 
 
 Still, out of an abundance of caution, officials said, the bowling alley in Williamsburg that he visited, the Gutter, was closed on Thursday night, and a scheduled concert there, part of the CMJ music festival, was canceled. Health workers were scheduled to visit the alley on Friday. 
 
 At Dr. Spencer’s apartment building, his home was sealed off and workers distributed informational fliers about the disease. 
 
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 Dr. Spencer had been working with Doctors Without Borders in Guinea treating Ebola patients, and completed his work on Oct. 12, Dr. Bassett said. He flew out of the country on Oct. 14, traveling via Europe, and arrived in New York on Oct. 17. 
 
 Since returning, he had been taking his temperature twice a day, Dr. Bassett said. 
 
 He told the authorities that he did not believe the protective gear he wore while working with Ebola patients had been breached but had been monitoring his own health. 
 
 Doctors Without Borders, in a statement, said it provides guidelines for its staff members to follow when they return from Ebola assignments, but did not elaborate on the protocols. 
 
 “The individual engaged in regular health monitoring and reported this development immediately,” the group said in a statement. 
 
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 Dr. Spencer began to feel sluggish on Tuesday but did not develop a fever until Thursday morning, he told the authorities. At 11 a.m., he found that he had a 100.3-degree temperature and alerted the staff of Doctors Without Borders, according to the official. 
 
 The staff called the city’s health department, which in turn called the Fire Department. 
 
 Emergency medical workers, wearing full personal protective gear, rushed to Dr. Spencer’s apartment, on West 147th Street. He was transported to Bellevue and arrived shortly after 1 p.m. 
 
 He was placed in a special isolation unit and is being seen by the designated medical critical care team. Team members wear personal protective equipment with undergarment air ventilation systems. 
 
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 Bellevue doctors have been preparing to deal with an Ebola patient with numerous drills and tests as well as actual treatment of suspected cases that turned out to be false alarms. 
 
 A health care worker at the hospital said that Dr. Spencer seemed very sick, and it was unclear to the medical staff why he had not gone to the hospital earlier, since his fever was high. 
 
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 Dr. Spencer is a fellow of international emergency medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, and an instructor in clinical medicine at Columbia University. 
 
 “He is a committed and responsible physician who always puts his patients first,” the hospital said in a statement. “He has not been to work at our hospital and has not seen any patients at our hospital since his return from overseas.” 
 
 Before Thursday, more than 30 people had gone to city hospitals and raised suspicions of Ebola, but in all those cases health workers were able to rule out the virus without performing blood tests. 
 
 While the city has stepped up its laboratory capacity so it can get test results within four to six hours, the precautions required when drawing blood and treating a person possibly sick with Ebola meant that it took until late in the evening to confirm Dr. Spencer’s diagnosis. 
 
 Doctors said that even before the results came in, it seemed likely that he had been infected. Symptoms usually occur within eight to 10 days of infection. Dr. Spencer stopped working with Ebola patients 11 days ago and returned home six days ago. 
 
 How Many Ebola Cases Are Outside of West Africa? At least 20 cases have been treated outside of West Africa. Full Q. and A. » Recovered In treatment Died Oslo London Leipzig Omaha Nebraska Medical Center Paris New York Rome Madrid Bethesda, Md. N.I.H. Clinical Center Dallas Atlanta Emory University Hospital The two nurses who contracted Ebola at a Dallas hospital have recovered. Countries with Ebola outbreaks Oslo London Leipzig Paris Omaha New York Betheda, Md. Madrid Atlanta Dallas Countries with Ebola outbreaks Recovered In treatment Died 
 
 Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids and secretions, including blood, mucus, feces and vomit. 
 
 Because of its high mortality rate — Ebola kills more than half the people it infects — the disease spreads fear along with infection. 
 
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 The authorities have been on high alert ever since Thomas Eric Duncan traveled to the United States in September from Liberia, and was later given a diagnosis of Ebola. 
 
 Mr. Duncan died at a Dallas hospital this month. 
 
 Several days after his death, a nurse who helped care for Mr. Duncan learned she had Ebola. Two nurses who treated Mr. Duncan fell ill, but are recovering. 
 
 That single case led to hundreds of people being quarantined or being asked to remain isolated from the general public. 
 
 The missteps by both local and federal authorities in handling the nation’s first Ebola case raised questions about the ability of health care workers to safely treat those with the disease. 
 
 In the New York City region, hospitals and emergency workers have been preparing for the appearance of the virus for months. 
 
 Dr. Irwin Redlener, the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University and a special adviser to Mayor de Blasio, said that the risk to the general public was minimal, but depended on the city moving swiftly. 
 
 “New York has mobilized not only a world-class health department, but has full engagement of many other agencies that need to be on the response team,” he said.
– New York City has its first Ebola case: A doctor who recently returned from West Africa has tested positive for the disease, reports the New York Times. Craig Spencer, who had been working in Guinea with the group Doctors Without Borders, is now in isolation at Bellevue Hospital. City health authorities are trying to get a handle on how many people may have had contact with him in the last week or so. The Daily News reports that the 33-year-old returned from Africa 10 days ago—well within the standard 21-day period in which symptoms would typically appear—and was "roaming around town" before falling ill. He reportedly went bowling in Brooklyn last night, rode the subway, and used taxis run by the service Uber. Before the diagnosis came out, Mayor Bill de Blasio sought to play down fears as news spread of Spencer's hospitalization. “Our understanding is that very few people were in direct contact with him,” he said at an evening press conference. Fire officials got a call from Spencer's address in West Harlem this morning and transported him to the hospital with a 103-degree fever and nausea, reports DNA Info. Spencer reportedly lives with his fiancee. Authorities have sealed off their apartment and were distributing informational fliers about Ebola. The CDC, meanwhile, plans to conduct another test to confirm the initial diagnosis.