Patients at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre confirmed not to have Ebola

WINNIPEG – Precautions were taken when two patients arrived at a Winnipeg emergency room with symptoms consistent with Ebola, but health officials say both have tested negative.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says the patients told officials at the Health Sciences Centre they’d had contact with relatives from West Africa.

However, after a patient history report and testing, doctors concluded the patients were not at risk of having Ebola.

More than 2,200 people have died in West Africa during the current Ebola outbreak, although Ebola hasn’t been confirmed as the cause of all those deaths.

An Ebola vaccine developed at Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Lab may be the first to be approved for use in battling the ongoing outbreak in west Africa.

NewLink Genetics says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given its approval to start safety testing of the vaccine on humans.

A World Health Organization official says if the vaccine is deemed safe, it would likely be the first used on healthcare workers — possibly before the end of the year.

(CJOB, The Canadian Press)