Winnipeggers at front lines of Ebola outbreak

WATCH: More than 7,300 people have died from Ebola in western Africa and the outbreak is far from over. Global News spoke exclusively with the Canadian doctor who created a vaccine that could be just months away from being approved. Vassy Kapelos reports.

Although the Ebola virus seems to be slowing down in some countries, the outbreak is far from over says Dr. Gregory Taylor, deputy chief public health officer of Canada. “In fact, the numbers in Sierra Leone are increasing,” says Dr. Taylor.

No Canadians have contracted the deadly virus since the recent outbreak in West Africa, but there are still many Winnipeggers working closely with it, either overseas or at home.

Since the outbreak, researchers from the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg have traveled to West Africa to help contain the spread.

Currently there is a team of four in Kailahun, Sierra Leone. They work from mobile laboratories, equipped to detect and kill the virus.

Microbiologist Dr. Jim Strong was one of the researches who worked overseas. “We’re right where the patients are,” says Dr. Strong. “We see the patients from where we’re doing the lab work. They get their results from the time we get the blood sample to the time they get their results is about three hours.”

He says steps involved in testing the blood samples are extensive. “This is what we would consider the highest risk, handling a live virus, so this is the thing we’re most cautious about,” says Dr. Strong. “This is the thing where you just don’t cut corners.”

At the peak of the outbreak, Dr. Strong and his team were testing about 40 samples a day in Kailahun. Today, they’re only testing about a handful. That is what’s so important about having a mobile lab, says Dr. Strong.

“We weren’t quite sure where we were going to set up originally, so we set up in a number of places,” says Dr. Strong. “First in Guéckédou, Guinea, then Kailahun, and now there’s a potential we may end up moving to another place.”

While some researchers are on the move, others in Winnipeg are working to develop a vaccine. ZMapp, the vaccine in development, was created at the NML. It is currently in Stage 1 and 2 of the clinical trials. Stage 1 is a safety trial in humans, and Stage 2 tests efficacy of the drug.

“It’s predicted that after the Phase 2, if we have the safety and the efficacy, then this product will be able to move and to be approved to be used in the future,” says Dr. Gary Kobinger, the chief of special pathogens at NML.

“I think it’s definitely the last large outbreak that we’re going to see of the Ebola virus.”

The NML is also conducting research to better understand how Ebola travels from animals to humans, how it’s transmitted and how this specific strain is different than past Ebola outbreaks.