Canada - Man in Brampton, Ont. being treated for Ebola-like symptoms

Canada - Man in Brampton, Ont. being treated for Ebola-like symptoms.(NAPO).

A man from Brampton, Ontario is being treated for Ebola-like symptoms after travelling to West Africa but doctors are warning the public not to jump to conclusions, as the presence of Ebola has not been confirmed.

Public health officials said the man was admitted to the Brampton Civic hospital Friday, where he is being kept in isolation. The patient frequently travels to Nigeria, one of the areas hardest hit by the outbreak.

Dr. Eileen de Villa, a medical officer with the Region of Peel, stressed the patient has not officially be diagnosed with Ebola and the measures being taken are strictly precautionary, adding that the patient's symptoms could be the result of several diseases.

"I am aware that we are currently testing a patient who recently travelled from West Africa. Initial signs and symptoms of Ebola are similar to many more common diseases," Ontario Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins said in a release Friday night.

"One such disease relevant to African travel is malaria. There are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in Ontario."

Hoskins said he is in close contact with the chief medical officer of health and they are closely managing the situation.

Alison McGeer, a microbiologist and infectious disease consultant at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, said that "although it feels odd," seeing the precautions currently being taken at Brampton Civic should reassure Canadians.

"It’s unlikely that we’re going to see cases of Ebola virus that come to Canada," McGreer told CBC News. "But it’s important that we are precautionary about it, that we have systems in place to detect people.

"And the people those systems are going to detect are people who’ve travelled, probably not even to high risk areas in those countries, but to those countries and who now have malaria or influenza or one of the many other diseases that can give you a fever."