Patient who visited country affected by Ebola admitted to hospital in Moncton

MONCTON – A patient who recently travelled to a West-African country affected by an Ebola outbreak has been admitted to a Moncton hospital.

Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health, says the patient, who came to the emergency room of the Georges L. Dumont hospital complaining of illness, does not fit the case definition for the disease.

The patient is being observed in full isolation while tests are completed.

“Because they don’t meet the case criteria, we are really just using a lot of precautionary measures,” Russell said. “We just want to make we are using all the precautions necessary to protect the public health.”

She said when the patient was admitted, hospital staff moved quickly to disinfect the waiting room, which is normal protocol whenever an infectious disease is suspected.

She added the risk of any New Brunswickers contracting Ebola remains very low.

With files from Laura Brown, Global News