Fairfax Hospital was the community hospital at the center of a dispute over where to care for a monkey caretaker who had become ill during the Reston outbreak. Its role brought the competing judgments of public-health and Army officials into direct view: whether a suspected Ebola case could be managed in a civilian hospital or required the Army’s more restrictive biocontainment facilities.

A contested destination

When Milton Frantig became ill, Dan Dalgard and officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discussed his care. The CDC wanted him taken to Fairfax Hospital, inside the Washington Beltway. C. J. Peters argued that, given the possibility of Ebola, Frantig should instead be placed in the “Slammer” at the Army institute. Peters offered to transport him in an Army ambulance and biocontainment pod, but Joe McCormick held to the decision to use Fairfax Hospital. McCormick’s experience treating Ebola patients in Africa informed his confidence that skilled hospital staff could care for Frantig without a space suit; Peters remained concerned about the risk to the hospital and its medical personnel.

Frantig’s admission

A Fairfax Hospital ambulance arrived at the monkey house while a Channel 4 news crew was filming. Frantig walked to the vehicle in his Tyvek suit and climbed onto the gurney himself. At the hospital, he was placed in an isolation room, where access was limited to doctors and nurses wearing gloves, gowns, and surgical masks. He said he felt better, prayed, and watched television.

Testing and release

After Frantig had been in isolation for several days, Thomas Ksiazek tested his blood and urine with a newly developed rapid ELISA test. Neither sample reacted to the Ebola test. Frantig’s fever had also disappeared, and he did not develop the symptoms the team feared; the account says he apparently had a mild case of flu. The CDC eventually told him he could go home.

The hospital’s part in the episode ended without confirmation that Frantig had Ebola. That outcome stood in contrast to the grave concern that had shaped his transfer: for Peters, the possibility of bringing a highly dangerous infection into a community hospital justified higher containment, while McCormick judged that Fairfax Hospital could provide appropriate care. The negative tests and Frantig’s recovery resolved the immediate uncertainty about his illness, but not the broader question of what was killing the monkeys.