Health officials in the mile-high city of Denver, Colorado say a man who fell ill after returning from Africa does not have the deady ebola virus.

A Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) bulletin late Sunday said the man has tested "negative for Ebola". 

The patient had been working as a medical missionary with sick and dead people in the DR Congo, which has just declared an end to its Ebola outbreak after 45 days had passed without a new infection.  He had returned to his residence in Denver, where on Sunday morning he reported sudden severe symptoms, Denver Health chief medical officer Connie Price said.

"We felt that, if he had Ebola, then he could be very communicable," saod Dr. Price, "We had no wiggle room to be wrong." 

Three members of the ambulance crew that transported him to quarantine at Denver Health Hospital - two of them paramedics, one a student - were also held in isolation until it was determined if he had Ebola.  He's now reportedly ina  fair condition.

Ebola is a rare but deadly virus that causes fevers, headaches, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, weakness, muscle pain and unexplained bleeding or bruising.  It's usually transmitted to people from infected animals in sub-Saharan Africa, and then from person to person through bodily fluids.  Outbreaks have seen 70 percent mortality rates, and the survivors often have health problems for years afterwards