Samuel Brisbane is the first Liberian doctor to die in an outbreak the World Health Organization says has killed 129 people in Liberia, and more than 670 in several West African countries. The WHO confirmed that the Liberian ministry of health had informed the organization that Dr. Brisbane had died. A Ugandan doctor working in the country died this month.
The WHO says the outbreak, the largest yet recorded, has also killed 319 people in Guinea and 224 in Sierra Leone. As of July 23, the total number of cases in the three countries was 1,201, it said. [eap_ad_2] In Nigeria, officials said on Friday that a Liberian official had died of Ebola after flying from Monrovia to Lagos, Nigeria, via Lome, Togo, the Associated Press reported. The case underscored the difficulty of preventing Ebola victims from traveling given weak screening systems and the fact that the initial symptoms of the disease—including fever and sore throat—resemble those of many other illnesses.
Health workers are at serious risk of contracting the disease, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids. The WHO says the disease isn’t contagious until a person begins to show symptoms.Kent Brantly, an American doctor helping respond to the outbreak in Liberia, is receiving intensive medical treatment there after he was infected with the Ebola virus, a spokeswoman for aid organization Samaritan’s Purse said, according to the AP. Dr. Brantly was in stable condition, talking with his doctors and working on his computer while receiving care, she said. Dr. Brantly is medical director for the Samaritan’s Purse Ebola Consolidated Case Management Center in Monrovia.[eap_ad_3]
