Crews Respond to New Jersey Wawa After Person Displays Ebola-Like Symptoms, Turns Out to Be Malaria
By Dan Stamm	• Published July 8, 2015 • Updated on July 8, 2015 at 5:56 pm
Hazmat crews responded to a New Jersey Wawa after a man showed Ebola-like symptoms there, but police said officials don't believe the patient has the potentially deadly disease.
Rather, authorities said, the man is believed to be suffering from malaria, a mosquito-borne illness.
State and local police responded overnight Tuesday into Wednesday to what they called a hazmat situation at Squankum and East County Line roads in Lakewood Township, Ocean County.
Original reports stated the man had Ebola-like symptoms at a nearby condo complex, but Lakewood Police Chief Robert Lawson later clarified that the situation began around 9 p.m. Tuesday after a man began to vomit at a Wawa convenience store, causing someone to call 911.
Medics took the man from his car and rushed him to Monmouth Medical Center, where a series of tests determined the man -- who returned from a trip to Africa about three weeks ago -- didn't have Ebola, but rather malaria, said police. The man had visited Nigeria, which isn't a hot bed for Ebola, said Lawson.
Malaria isn't spread from person to person like a cold or flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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