By Morgan True, VTDigger.org
The Rutland man under quarantine for possible exposure to the Ebola virus has been identified as Peter Italia.
Italia is being held at an undisclosed location to ensure he does not have the Ebola virus. Vermont officials have said he poses no threat to public health.
On his Facebook page, Italia wrote at length about his four-week trip to West Africa, and confirmed that law enforcement and health officials met him as he arrived at New York’s JFK International Airport. He was brought back to Vermont by a police officer and a health department worker.
“I have since been forced into ‘voluntary’ quarantine for 21 days. I am also under 24-hour guard,” he wrote. “Otherwise, I have been treated quite well.”
Italia is the author of a book titled “Quantum Medicine,” described as containing “true stories about real hospital cases in which Dr. Italia has used time travel and other methods.” His biography, posted on the ebook publishing website Smashwords, says he attended Champlain College and graduated from the Universidad Eugenio María de Hostos school of medicine in the Dominican Republic.
Italia is not a medical professional in Vermont, according to state officials.
In a Facebook post on Oct. 1, Italia announced that he had arrived in the Guinean capital of Conakry to “join the fight” against the Ebola virus.
“Because I do not have a medical license, those international organizations helping here in West Africa such as #DoctorsWithoutBorders and #SamaritansPurse would not accept me,” he wrote in the Oct. 1 post.
In the social media posts Italia becomes frustrated by the way in which media and the medical establishment ignore him. That exasperation is coupled with a seemingly genuine desire to help Ebola stricken West Africa.
The Vermont health commissioner has the authority to hold people in quarantine involuntarily should it be deemed necessary for public safety and health. Gov. Peter Shumlin said Tuesday that the state had not invoked that authority, but would do so if necessary.
State officials have said Italia will be held for a 21-day period in order to determine he is free of the Ebola virus. Health Department workers are taking his temperature twice a day, and watching for flu-like symptoms. If Italia has an elevated temperature or begins displaying symptoms, he will be immediately taken to a medical facility prepared to handle Ebola patients, officials have said.
