--- title: Ebola: New Mexico Woman Tested After Visit to Sierra Leone description: Woman shows early symptoms of viral disease, but health officials say she's unlikely to be infected canonical: https://time.com/3134627/new-mexico-tested-ebola-sierra-leone/ author: Per Liljas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-18T08:50:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:53.076Z article:section: Health og:title: New Mexico woman tested for Ebola og:description: She shows early symptoms of viral disease, but officials say she's unlikely to be infected og:url: https://time.com/3134627/new-mexico-tested-ebola-sierra-leone/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta643fa7f12cdff01/69869fda169ab0a11827ac27/158929697.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 158929697 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Mexico woman tested for Ebola twitter:description: She shows early symptoms of viral disease, but officials say she's unlikely to be infected twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta643fa7f12cdff01/69869fda169ab0a11827ac27/158929697.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A New Mexico Woman Is Being Tested for Ebola After a Visit to Sierra Leone ## Video: Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola [Watch (HLS stream): Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/G194AmTC.m3u8) (2:32)  _Published 2014-08-13. Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola_ by [Per Liljas](https://time.com/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Aug 18, 2014 8:50 AM UTC  Transmission electron micrograph of Ebola virus Transmission electron micrograph of Ebola virusKallista Images—Getty Images/Kallista Images by [Per Liljas](https://time.com/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Aug 18, 2014 8:50 AM UTC A New Mexico woman is being [tested](http://www.abqjournal.com/447619/abqnewsseeker/health-department-cdc-testing-new-mexico-woman-for-ebola.html) for Ebola, even though the state department of health says it is improbable that she’s carrying the virus. The 30-year-old returned from a teacher assignment in Sierra Leone with fever, muscle aches, headache and a sore throat — all symptoms similar to the early stages of Ebola, the Albuquerque _Journal_ reports. However, she had no known exposure to the contagious disease, which is spread through contact with body fluids. Health officials say the woman is being tested “out of an abundance of caution.” Preliminary test results are expected later this week. In the past five months, the deadliest Ebola outbreak ever has claimed over a thousand lives in West Africa. \[[_Albuquerque Journal_](http://www.abqjournal.com/447619/abqnewsseeker/health-department-cdc-testing-new-mexico-woman-for-ebola.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3134627/new-mexico-tested-ebola-sierra-leone/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3134627/new-mexico-tested-ebola-sierra-leone/"},"headline":"A New Mexico Woman Is Being Tested for Ebola After a Visit to Sierra Leone","datePublished":"2014-08-18T08:50:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:00:53.076Z","description":"Health officials say she's unlikely to be infected, however","url":"https://time.com/3134627/new-mexico-tested-ebola-sierra-leone/","keywords":["Infectious Disease","ebola"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta643fa7f12cdff01/69869fda169ab0a11827ac27/158929697.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Per Liljas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/per-liljas/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta643fa7f12cdff01/69869fda169ab0a11827ac27/158929697.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"158929697","caption":"158929697","creditText":"Kallista Images—Getty Images/Kallista Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3134627/new-mexico-tested-ebola-sierra-leone/","name":"A New Mexico Woman Is Being Tested for Ebola After a Visit to Sierra Leone"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola","description":"Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/G194AmTC/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-13T23:41:12.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/G194AmTC.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3134627/new-mexico-tested-ebola-sierra-leone/","duration":"PT2M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3134627/new-mexico-tested-ebola-sierra-leone/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```