A third
American health worker has tested positive for the Ebola virus while
working with patients in West Africa, the Christian missionary group SIM
said Tuesday.
The group did not release the name of the
doctor, but said he had been working in obstetrics at the SIM-funded
ELWA hospital in the Liberian capital Monrovia.
Two Americans who also worked at ELWA, Doctor
Kent Brantly and nurse Nancy Writebol, were previously flown home from
Liberia and successfully treated for the virus.
Unlike Brantly and Writebol, the new US victim
had not been working directly with Ebola patients, and it is not yet
clear how he contacted the disease, which is usually fatal.
The doctor has been isolated in the hospital’s dedicated Ebola unit.
“My heart was deeply saddened, but my faith
was not shaken, when I learned another of our missionary doctors
contracted Ebola,” said SIM president Bruce Johnson.
“We have gifted Liberian doctors, medical staff and support staff who are carrying on the fight.”
Over the past six months the world’s worst
ever Ebola outbreak has killed 1,552 people in several West African
countries and infected 3,062, according to the latest figures released
by the WHO.
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