REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, NEW YORK - A physician with Doctors Without Borders who returned to New York City after treating Ebola victims in West Africa tested positive for the virus, setting off fresh fears about the spread of the disease.

Dr. Craig Spencer (33 years) is in isolation at Bellevue Hospital and officials sought to reassure the public that they are safe from Ebola, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference. Spencer developed a fever and gastrointestinal symptoms after working for the humanitarian organization in Guinea, one of three West African nations hardest hit by Ebola.

A specially trained team wearing protective gear transported Spencer to Bellevue Hospital from his Manhattan apartment earlier on Thursday, the city said in a statement. Governor Andrew Cuomo said Spencer had been in direct contact with four people, and health authorities had quarantined three friends. The fourth person, a taxi driver, was determined not to be at risk of Ebola.

The first confirmed case in America's largest city set off renewed fears about the spread of the virus, which has killed nearly 4,900 people, largely in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. There have been nine cases of Ebola seen in the United States since the beginning of August.

The New York Times reported that Spencer traveled by subway to a bowling alley in the city's Brooklyn borough on Wednesday night and took a taxi home. The bowling alley, identified by local media as the Gutter, was closed on Thursday. 

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