In the wake of an Ebola-like virus outbreak in Africa that has killed dozens, a possible case of one of the world’s most virulent viruses has been detected in Canada after a passenger returned from the continent.
Denise Werker, joint director of health in Western Canada’s Saskatchewan province said:
"All we know at this point is that we have a person who is critically ill who travelled from a country where these diseases occur."
Werker confirmed that the patient had recently been in Liberia and developed the Ebola-like symptoms on arrival in Canada.
The person, who is now in isolation pending confirmation test results, would not have been contagious when travelling.
The latest Ebola-like outbreak has hit Guinea and Liberia. Aid workers and health officials are battling to contain the outbreak in western Africa.
Guinea was the first country hit before neighbouring Liberia reported its first suspected victims.
Around 61 people are known to have died in Guinea's southern forests since this spate.
If the Liberian cases are confirmed and it is indeed Ebola, this would mark the first recorded spread of the highly contagious pathogen into another country.
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