BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts General Hospital admitted a patient possibly exposed to the Ebola virus on Tuesday, the hospital said in a statement.

The patient, whose identity was not disclosed, is being treated in a "specially prepared area within the hospital," Mass General said, noted that the diagnosis has not yet been confirmed.

The worst outbreak of Ebola on record has killed more than 6,000 people, with the vast majority of cases in the West African nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

United States health officials on Tuesday designated 35 hospitals around the nation as Ebola treatment centres; none were located in Massachusetts.