UPDATE: Ebola tests on patient in Kelowna 'negative' | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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UPDATE: Ebola tests on patient in Kelowna 'negative'

Patrice Gordon, a nurse practitioner with Interior Health, holding a one-month-old child who tested positive for the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone earlier this month.
Image Credit: redcross.ca
Original Publication Date December 30, 2014 - 3:27 PM

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Interior Health has confirmed a patient is in isolation at Kelowna General Hospital while being tested for the Ebola virus.

Patrice Gordon, a nurse practitioner with Interior Health, was in Sierra Leone earlier this month to help treat Ebola patients. She returned this week and soon after began showing signs consistent with the deadly disease.

Global Okanagan reports Gordon confirmed on her Facebook page she was at Kelowna General Hospital with a slight fever.

Deputy provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the patient arrived at the hospital Monday night with flu-like symptoms. The first blood test was done last night and has come back negative for Ebola.

“This patient was not that ill and was able to drive themself to the hospital,” Dr. Henry says. “I think we can say with a fairly high degree of confidence that… it’s not looking like Ebola at all.”

According to KGH Chief of Staff Dr. Mike Ertel, a second set of tests will be done and the results are expected sometime tomorrow. If those also come back negative, the patient will be discharged.

Ebola is a very rare disease that can only be spread through direct contact. It's standard protocol for health workers to monitor themselves and take extra precautions if symptoms are detected.

Kelowna General Hospital is one of only five hospitals in B.C. with staff trained to deal with Ebola. Training took place in October. The four other regional hospitals participating in protocol training are Surrey Memorial Hospital, Royal Jubilee Hospital, University Hospital of Northern B.C. and B.C. Children's Hospital.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

— This story was updated at 4:06 p.m., Dec. 30 with additional details.

— This story was updated at 4:33 p.m., Dec. 30 with additional details and quotes.

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