WATCH: A Canadian doctor who treated Ebola victims is now back home, but there are questions about his health. Mike Le Couteur explains.
VANCOUVER – A humanitarian group says a British Columbia doctor who recently returned from a trip to West Africa to fight a deadly Ebola outbreak is not under any kind of quarantine, contrary to initial reports.
Earlier, it was reported that Dr. Azaria Marthyman had isolated himself after recently returning from Liberia.
Marthyman was part of a team that worked with the organization called Samaritan’s Purse.
Marthyman returned from Liberia on Saturday and even though he is showing no signs of the virus, it was reported he placed himself under quarantine in his home.
But at this point, Marthyman is saying he’s simply taking time with his family.
One of his colleagues, Dr. Kent Brantly, has tested positive for the Ebola virus. He is currently undergoing treatment in an isolation centre at a Liberia hospital.
Marthyman posted many blog entries of his work in Liberia, writing on July 24 that he was homeward bound and that he was “doing well physically and emotionally.”
Officials say the risk of Ebola here is very low.
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“Not becoming ill on route, not being detected at the border services, and quarantine officers picking up on the fact that they have any, so all these different steps means that it’s extremely unlikely that we would have the virus introduced or spread within a North America setting,” said Dr. Murray Fyfe from the Vancouver Island Health Authority.
Two Americans working in Liberia have now tested positive for the disease.
There is no known cure for Ebola, which starts with symptoms including fever and sore throat and escalates to vomiting, diarrhea and internal bleeding. The World Health Organization says the disease spreads through direct contact with blood and other bodily fluids, but can spread through indirect contact with environments that are contaminated with fluids from someone with the Ebola virus.
Hundreds of people from Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone have already died from the disease.
– With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
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