New York, Oct 28 (IANS/EFE) A 5-year-old boy who recently arrived in the US from West Africa and was admitted to a New York hospital with a fever has tested negative for the Ebola virus, authorities said Monday.

The child returned to New York Saturday after a trip with his family to Guinea, one of the three countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 5,000 people since March.

Paramedics in protective gear took the boy to Bellevue Hospital, the same facility where a doctor who contracted Ebola while working in Guinea as a volunteer for Doctors Without Borders is undergoing treatment in an isolation unit.

Doctors at Bellevue said the youngster had a temperature of 39.4 C (102.9 F).

The negative result in the first test to be performed on the boy was confirmed in a communique by the New York City Health Department. Nevertheless, with an eye toward guaranteeing that the child is not infected, other tests will be performed on him in the coming days.