A Winnipeg lab is testing the blood of a man to determine if his flu-like symptoms are from the deadly Ebola virus that has infected hundreds in West Africa.
The man has been placed in isolation at a Brampton, Ont. hospital.
"The test has to be done using the Level 4 lab, the kind of lab you saw in the movie 'Outbreak,' the one where people are wearing the spacesuits,” said infectious disease specialist Dr. Neil Rau.
Rau says the national microbiology lab will test the genetic material of the virus either in the blood or the throat secretions of the patient.
Regular Canadian hospital labs are not equipped to test the virus.
Before testing, the blood samples must be "deactivated," so people doing the testing don't become infected.
The test results are expected to take 48 hours.
Rau says the chances of seeing a case in Canada is still extremely low.
Guinea is taking an extra step to protect its residents and stop the spread of Ebola. The country closed its borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia. In total, 367 people have died from the virus in Guinea this year.
The three countries have seen a combined death toll of nearly 1,000 people.
Guinea's official land border crossings will shut, though rural crossings will be harder to control. It was not immediately clear how the closure would impact air travel.
