Ebola Outbreak: New York Victim Craig Spencer is Marathon Running Banjo Player Keen to Help Africans

A New York doctor has become the first Ebola victim diagnosed in New York after being struck down with a fever and stomach pains on 23 October after he returned home from an aid mission in Guinea.

Craig Spencer, 33, who is from Detroit, is a fitness fanatic and a banjo player who is passionate about providing to striken Africans living with Ebola.

He left the West African country on 14 October and returned to New York City on 17 October.

It was on Tuesday 22 October that he started showing symptoms of the virus, which has killed almost 5,000 people, and after initially quarantining himself in his apartment, he was rushed to Bellevue Hospital and nine hours later was confirmed as the US's fourth Ebola victim.

New York-Presbyterian Hospital doctor Spencer travelled to west Africa determined to help those affected by Ebola.

Using his Facebook page to update friends, he urged them to "help combat one of the worst public health and humanitarian disasters in recent history".

Despite the obvious risk to his own health, his friend Patrick Crossman told Bloomberg he was not surprised he volunteered his expertise.

"It doesn't surprise me that he would be one of the first people to step up. He would tackle whatever comes his way," he said.

According to the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, before going to West Africa, Spencer worked on multiple medical projects in Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He can also speak a number of languages including Chinese, French and Spanish.

A statement from the Columbia University Medical Center, where Spencer studied, said: "The physician [Spencer] is a dedicated humanitarian on the staff of New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center who went to an area of medical crisis to help a desperately underserved population."