Possibility of a case of Ebola in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I know about the current outbreak inland from the coastal city of Conakry, Guinea and that it had spread to neighboring Liberia. From The Vancouver Sun:
Ebola virus feared in man critically ill in Saskatoon
Public health officials may find out Tuesday what ails a man stricken with what may be Ebola virus.
The man, who was recently in the West African country of Liberia, is now critically ill and isolated in a Saskatoon hospital with a viral hemorrhagic fever, a top Saskatchewan public health official announced Monday.
"It's very dramatic and scary to hear about Ebola, but it's very unlikely to spread, and certainly, once the person is quarantined, it's very safe," University of Regina microbiologist Andrew Cameron said.
Included in the general class of viral hemorrhagic fevers are Ebola fever, Lassa fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, yellow fever, dengue fever, and Marburg hemorrhagic fever.
Health care workers have sent the patient's specimens to the national microbiology laboratory in Winnipeg for a diagnosis, said deputy chief medical health officer Dr. Denise Werker. Some test results are expected back today.
And There to Here for this Patient Zero was in something called an Airplane. A sealed tube that flies through the skies loaded with about 200 to 300 other poor souls; everyone breathing the same air for ten to fifteen hours. If this turns out to be true Ebola, it will be an interesting test of Canada's National Health system and I hope that Dr. Werker has a solid and tireless staff. I was trained as a biologist and epidemics are something I follow with a morbid curiosity. One will come here but I really hope that it is not now...