Ebola risk low, but some infections expected, says B.C. medical officer
System in place to screen people arriving with symptoms from Africa
B.C.'s provincial health officer says it would not be surprising to see cases of the Ebola virus appear, but that there is no reason for alarm.
"We likely think over the next six months [we'll] probably import a case or two, or maybe even three," Dr. Perry Kendall told CBC News.
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"But the chances of them — once they're in hospital and isolated — infecting anybody else is slim."
The province is prepared to deal with such cases, should they arise, he said.
Kendall's comments came after news of the first confirmed case of the virus diagnosed in the United States, in Texas.
Canadian and U.S. health officials stressed on Wednesday that the risk to the public is low, given that health systems in North America include clean water, protective equipment such as masks, gowns and gloves that are in short supply in West Africa.
Health Minister Rona Ambrose and Dr. Gregory Taylor, Canada's chief public health officer, also discussed the Ebola outbreak in West Africa Wednesday at the meeting of federal, provincial and territorial health ministers in Banff, Alta.
"Canada is very well prepared," for infectious diseases like Ebola, Ambrose said.
Kendall said the risk to British Columbians remains low, and that Ebola can only be spread through direct contact with bodily fluids from someone with symptoms.
According to the World Health Organization, the fatality rate is around 50 per cent.
Kendall said there is a system in place for people arriving from Africa who have shown signs of illness, but so far there have been no confirmed cases in Canada.
"Certainly not in B.C. — we have had cases that we have tested."
The patient diagnosed in the U.S. had recently arrived from Liberia, and health officials are tracing and monitoring those people he had contact with.
With files from Meera Bains