Canadian hospital isolates possible Ebola patient

A Canadian hospital said Saturday it has placed a patient who recently returned from West Africa in isolation as it awaits whether the individual tests positive for Ebola.

The patient was quarantined after experiencing a high fever, a symptom of the often fatal virus, according to Montreal’s Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital.

The person had recently returned from Guinea, one of the West African countries affected by the worst Ebola epidemic since its discovery four decades ago.

On Friday, the World Health Organization said the outbreak sweeping the region has claimed 1,427 lives.

Blood samples taken Friday are currently being tested at a laboratory in Winnipeg, according to Karl Weiss, who heads the hospital’s infectious disease department.

Public health authorities said it was highly unlikely the patient has Ebola but that it wanted to eliminate any doubts.

Earlier this month, a Canadian man was placed in isolation at a Toronto-area hospital after complaining of a fever after a recent visit to Nigeria.

He later tested negative for Ebola.

Canada is sending up to 1,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine to West Africa to help the WHO fight the epidemic, according to the health minister.