MARIETTA, Ga. (CN) - An inmate at the Cobb County Jail in Georgia who was tested for Ebola after he fell ill while being processed overnight has tested negative for the disease, although officials say they are still awaiting the results of one test.
Those results are not expected until late Friday night.
The inmate, unnamed at this time, was brought to the jail shortly after 3 a.m. this morning on a DUI charge and told deputies after he developed a fever while in custody that he had recently traveled to Nigeria, where several cases of Ebola have been reported.
Deputies at the Cobb County courthouse, a few miles from the jail, said the man was running a fever and that he is being tested at a local hospital for Ebola as a precautionary measure.
The jail temporarily stopped accepting inmates after the man became sick, quarantined the jail's intake facilities and cleaned and sterilized them, according to Cobb County officials, speaking on background.
The jail resumed processing new inmates this afternoon.
The first Ebola case in the nation - involving Thomas Eric Duncan, in Texas - has raised concerns that the disease, which has killed at least 3,300 people in West Africa could spread to the
U.S. Cobb County officials said in light of those concerns they thought it best to exercise an "abundance of caution" in dealing with the man's illness.
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