Potential risk of Ebola virus to Canadian Blood Services’ products and services extremely low

Updated October 20, 2014 - Canadian Blood Services is actively monitoring the risk of Ebola virus to the Canadian blood system and will continue to provide ongoing updates of our risk assessment. We have assessed the potential risk to our products and services and at this time it is extremely low.

What is Ebola?

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe, often fatal human disease caused by the Ebola virus. Symptoms of fever, sore throat, muscle pains, and headaches typically start two to 21 days after infection. These initial symptoms are followed by nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, along with decreased functioning of the liver and kidneys and, in some cases, both internal and external bleeding. The infection is transmitted only by direct contact with the blood, body fluids or tissues of infected people.

Is the blood supply safe for Canadian patients?

We have assessed the potential risk to our products and services and at this time it is extremely low. We will continue to monitor the risk of Ebola to the Canadian blood system and provide ongoing updates.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has issued a travel health notice to advise Canadians to avoid all non-essential travel to West Africa. All three of the West African countries with widespread transmission (Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia) are also malaria-endemic countries. Travelers who have visited malaria-endemic countries are deferred from giving blood for a minimum of one-year.

Anyone who has been told by public health authorities that they have been exposed to a patient who may have Ebola virus disease is advised not to donate blood for 56 days following their last contact with the infected person.

Is it still safe to give blood?

Our staff, volunteers and donors attending blood donor clinics are extremely unlikely to come into direct contact with anyone infected with Ebola virus. You can be infected only through direct contact with blood or body fluid of an infected person with symptoms. Such a person would be too ill to come to a clinic. Ebola virus is not airborne (i.e. it is not transmitted in the same manner as respiratory viruses such as the flu).

For more information on Ebola visit the World Health Organization and Public Health Agency of Canada’s websites.

Also see the latest bulletin from the AABB on the deferral for blood donation of persons under public health surveillance for possible exposure to Ebola.