An assistant professor at the University of Northern BC has now been identified as the patient that was tested for the deadly Ebola Virus.
The result came back negative for Dr. Greg Thomas Reilly.
He was on leave from the school and is back in Canada after working in Liberia on Ebola prevention and containment.
We spoke with Reilly to give him a chance to tell his story and go over the process that is in place when people return from West Africa.
“Basically I arrived in Montreal and I was met right at the doors of the plane by customs officials who brought me to a quarantine station where I had a full assessment done; travel history, physical assessment, everything.”
“They deemed that I was at low risk but still gave a federal order for surveillance”
Reilly says he then traveled back to Prince George and was immediately in touch on a daily basis, often more than once a day, with people from Northern Health.
He says they would be checking to make sure he was OK.
Reilly says he then developed what he calls a run of the mill cold…
“It’s probably you or I would not even bother to take a sick day for in other circumstances but because of my travel history an abundance of caution was taken.”
“I was assessed, monitored, and isolated, and eventually tested for Ebola and malaria, and other infectious diseases.”
Reilly says he was never worried about Ebola but is happy to be out of isolation and able to once again interact with his family.
He says everything was done professionally and proportional and he applauds the Canadian health authorities for taking a measured approach and not overreacting.
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