New York Ebola patient ‘entering next phase’

New York City hospital officials on Saturday said the New York doctor diagnosed with Ebola “is entering the next phase of his illness,” according to The Associated Press.

Officials said Dr. Craig Spencer, who contracted the deadly virus while treating patients in Guinea, is awake, communicating and is experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms.

{mosads}Spencer began undergoing plasma therapy at Bellevue Hospital Center on Friday, a day after he tested positive for the virus.

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., which runs Bellevue, confirmed that Spencer is also receiving anti-viral therapy.

The combination of therapy has been used on Ebola patients at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and at the Nebraska Medical Center.

Spencer’s case, the first diagnosis in New York and fourth in the U.S., prompted the governors of New York and New Jersey to implement a 21-day quarantine for travelers who have been exposed to Ebola in West Africa.