3 Winnipeg scientists exposed to Ebola coming home

Three Winnipeg scientists coming home from Sierra Leone likely won't spend time in a hospital containment unit.

• Ebola cases could exceed 20,000, WHO says

The Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg is preparing its isolation ward for potential Ebola patients for the public or anyone connected to the National Microbiology Lab.

But Dr. Joel Kettner, medical director of the  International Centre for Infectious Disease said the evacuated lab workers likely won't spend any time at the hospital because they're not sick.

“We wouldn't typically put that person into a quarantine such as a hospital bed or some location where they can't travel,” said Kettner. “We would ask them to stay within the city so we can keep in touch with them.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada said the researchers are not ill or experiencing any symptoms. They're coming home but will stay under voluntary isolation as a precaution, because three people in their African hotel have become infected with Ebola.

“There's people who were staying in the same hotel who turned out to have Ebola virus,” said Dr. Michael Gardam, who is in charge of infection prevention and control at Toronto’s University Health Network.

“That makes everyone extremely uncomfortable,” said Gardam. “That's not supposed to be happening, so  based on that alone, Health Canada has made a very smart decision, which is unless we can guarantee the safety of our staff, they shouldn't be there.”

Gardam said the researchers will likely be watched closely for 21 days to see if any symptoms develop.