Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Serving the Hub of the North since 1960
Volume 54 • Issue 41
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RDPC grad’s virus knowledge takes him to ebola zone in Liberia BY IAN GRAHAM EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
ALAIN HUBERDEAU APPOINTED JUDGE NEWS - PAGE 3
ELECTIONS 2014 NEWS -PAGES 4-7, 12
ROAD HOCKEY TOURNEY REMEMBERS FRIEND SPORTS - PAGE 10
RDPC TROJANS’ QUEST FOR HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER PROVINCIALS SPORTS - PAGE 10
Dave Safronetz should have been in Thompson recently to visit the city where he grew up until an unexpected change in plans took him to west Africa and one of the scenes of the ebola crisis instead. “I was actually supposed to be in Thompson visiting family and friends when the Liberia trip came up and I had to back out of the trip to Thompson in order to go to Liberia but my wife and sons were in Canada basically the whole time that I was in Liberia,” says Safronetz, a graduate of R.D. Parker Collegiate in 1996 who is married to another former Thompsonite, Mandy Spencer, whose parents Neil and Sandra are still in town. Safronetz, who got a bachelor’s degree in medical microbiology and immunology from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon after graduating from high school and then went on to earn a master’s degree and a PhD from the University of Manitoba, conducting research at the Level 4 National Microbiology Lab now known as the Public Health Agency of Canada facility in Winnipeg. Since then, he has been at Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, Montana, where he completed a four-year postdoctoral program and works mainly in the field of highly pathogenic rodent-borne viruses like hantavirus, arenavirus and lassa virus. That
Above, doctors suiting up to treat potential ebola virus carriers in Monrovia, Liberia. Right, former Thompsonite Dave Safronetz (right) with the first ebola virus survivor at the site where he was working. Thompson Citizen photos courtesy of Dave Safronetz work has taken him to a field research site in Mali 10 times or so in the past five years, experience that he thinks was probably a big part of the reason he had the opportunity to go to Liberia to help in the fight against the ebola virus. “Those are kind of my pathogens of interest,” Safronetz told the Thompson Citizen. “I don’t like the term but some people call them quote-unquote the special pathogens. They’re primarily viruses that you may not see every
day. It’s not something like the common cold or chicken pox-type viruses. These are viruses that, when they cross into human populations, they cause significant morbidity and mortality, so they quite often have mortality rates anywhere from 30 to 90 per cent. Historically, ebola was considered to be about
90 per cent lethal. Basically, the kind of viruses that you hope to never contract.” Despite the potential danger posed by the virus, Safronetz said he and his colleagues who made the trip to Liberia never really hesitated. “It’s always in the back of your mind,” he said. “You keep in mind
what you’re getting into and where you’re going. Everybody right now I think is just under the same idea that we have some background knowledge, we know what we’re doing and we can help so that’s really what we’re aiming for and what we’re doing.” Safronetz spent three Continued on Page 2
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