A patient with a fever and a history of travel to West Africa is in isolation at a Toronto hospital and is being tested for Ebola, according to a memo sent to University Health Network staff Thursday evening.

Ebola is one of several possible diagnoses, and initial test results should be available within 24 hours.

“It is very unlikely that the patient has Ebola but a test has been ordered as a precaution,” says the memo from Gillian Howard, vice president of public affairs at UHN.

While caring for the patient, all staff are using personal protective equipment until the test results are in, the memo says.

It has not been confirmed which of UHN's four hospitals the patient is staying in, but Toronto Western Hospital, which is part of UHN, has a specialized isolation ward designed to handle a potential Ebola outbreak.

The six-room pod has an invisible negative pressure air flow and double doors, a design that takes into consideration mistakes from 2003's SARS outbreak.

Patients who had travelled to West Africa and were experiencing flu-like symptoms were also tested for the virus in hospitals in Brampton, St. Catharines and Montreal. All have tested negative.

The virus has claimed the lives of more than 3,300 people.

So far, one case has been confirmed in North America in a patient who tested positive for the virus in Dallas on Tuesday.

The UHN also includes Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Rehabilitation Centre and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

With files from Marco Chown Oved