Ebola test on body of woman in Brooklyn comes back negative, city health department says

Test results on the body of a woman who died of an apparent heart attack in Brooklyn have come back negative for the Ebola virus, a spokesman for the New York City Health Department said Wednesday morning.

Out of "an abundance of caution," health department officials had looked into whether the woman, who traveled to the city from Guinea recently, had contracted Ebola.

Officials said that a woman, who showed no signs of the disease, had arrived from one of the West African countries where the virus has taken hold. She later had a heart attack while in a hair salon on Belmont Avenue in Brownsville, according to an online report by WABC-TV.

The woman, whom officials would not identify, was pronounced dead on the scene Tuesday. Her remains were then tested for exposure to the virus and those results came back negative, the health department said.

Health Department spokeswoman Jean Weinberg said on Tuesday that "an individual who came to the . . . [United States] 18 days ago from one of four West African countries with ongoing Ebola transmission died suddenly of an apparent heart attack."

Weinberg added: "Before death, this individual showed no symptoms of Ebola."

The report said the woman had been on a list of 350 people who were being monitored for Ebola.

With Zachary R. Dowdy

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.