Deadly Ebola Virus; Patient is being tested for Ebola Virus and many have been quarantined in St. Catharines’ hospital, Canada

A patient is in isolation at a St. Catharines hospital after arriving from the Ebola hot zone of West Africa with “flu-like symptoms.”

The patient is in stable condition and is considered “low-risk,” said Niagara Health System spokesperson Brady Wood, adding that test results confirming whether the patient has Ebola, a deadly virus, are expected by Thursday.

“Our analysis indicates this situation is very low-risk,” said Tom Stewart, chief of staff and executive vice-president medical at Niagara Health.

“We are taking every precaution and isolating the patient per the best practice protocols, with advice from infectious disease experts and public health.”

Niagara Health won’t confirm where the patient is from or disclose the West African country where the person was travelling.

The region is beset by the largest-ever Ebola outbreak, with reported cases in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal and Nigeria. A second outbreak of the disease has occurred further south in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

More than 1,500 people have died and more than 3,000 have contracted the disease during this year’s epidemic, according to the World Health Organization.

Though no cases of Ebola have been reported in Canada, people in Brampton and Montreal have been quarantined as a precaution after returning from Africa with symptoms of the flu. Both patients were ultimately shown not to have the disease.

This latest isolation case in St. Catharines is part of a “heightened vigilance” to prevent to the spread of the disease.

Stewart said Ontario hospitals have been prepping in recent weeks to handle any cases of Ebola. He added that the St. Catharines hospital, which opened in March 2013, has new negative pressure rooms and isolation capabilities. The new facility replaces the closed-down St. Catharines General Hospital, one of six Niagara-region hospitals where an outbreak of the C. difficile super-bug killed 31 people in 2011.

“Our goal in this case is to ensure this individual receives great care while protecting our staff and the public,” Stewart said.

“We will keep the public updated in an orderly fashion and, in the meantime, we are asking staff and the public to remain calm and to be extremely vigilant in terms of hand hygiene at our sites.”

Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with an infected person’s body fluid. It has a 90-per-cent fatality rate, making it one of the world’s most virulent diseases, according to the World Health Organization.