A doctor working with Ebola patients in Liberia has tested positive for the deadly virus.
The American, Dr. Kent Brantly, who is the medical director for the aid organization’s case management center in Monrovia, tested positive for the disease and was being treated at a hospital.
Brantly, 33, has been working in Liberia since October 2013 as part of the charity’s post-residency program for doctors. He was quoted in a posting on the organization’s website earlier this year about efforts to maintain an isolation ward for patients.
“The hospital is taking great effort to be prepared,” Brantly said.
“In past Ebola outbreaks, many of the casualties have been healthcare workers who contracted the disease through their work caring for infected individuals.”
Two days ago, a Liberian national who was suspected of having Ebola virus, died in Nigeria. His death became the first recorded case of one of the world’s deadliest diseases in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and most populous nation, with 170 million people.
The Ebola disease has killed 673 in several African countries since the outbreak began earlier this year, with Liberia accounting for 106 deaths.