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By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune November 03. 2014 3:55PM Jackson County resident monitored for Ebola symptoms A Jackson County resident who recently returned from West Africa is in the midst of a three-week monitoring window for symptoms of the Ebola virus, though the person has not been quarantined, public health officials said. Jackson County Health Officer Jim Shames said Monday that the individual, whom he would not identify, was considered "low risk" for contracting Ebola, has not shown any symptoms and was not known to be in contact with anyone with the disease. "They're someone we want to monitor for their safety and the safety of the community," Shames said Monday. The person, who is not hospitalized, is cooperating with local and state health officials, is taking his or her temperature twice a day and is being interviewed daily, Shames said. "There are no limitations because this individual is not ill," Shames said. The person will be monitored for 21 days, and Shames said the person is in the "early stages" of that monitoring time, though he declined to be more specific. He declined to identify the person's gender or age, the area where the person lives, or which of the three West African nations with known Ebola cases the person visited. Shames, however, said the person under monitoring is not a health care provider. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are the three West African countries now considered to have widespread incidence of Ebola. The CDC considers anyone who travels in any of those countries to be at risk for exposure to Ebola. The Jackson County resident flew into the United States from one of those three countries and was interviewed by CDC workers, who notified Oregon Public Health about the person's travels, as is called for under state and federal protocols, Shames said. State public health workers in turn notified Jackson County, and Shames announced the case Monday afternoon. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected]. Follow him at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman.   http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20141103/NEWS/141109903 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->