Ebola crisis: Doctor dies in Sierra Leone

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By South Asia correspondent Stephanie March, wires

A Sierra Leonean doctor has died from Ebola, bringing the number of doctors killed by the virus to seven, a medical source says.

“Dr Michael Kargbo died this afternoon,” said a senior health worker at the Hastings Treatment Centre in the outskirts of Freetown.

It was not clear how Dr Kargbo, a 64-year-old dermatologist working at the Magburaka Government Hospital, was infected with Ebola, as he was not serving in a frontline Ebola treatment unit.

Sierra Leone has seen at least 128 of its health personnel infected by Ebola, as staff working in general wards and special treatment centres have been exposed to the disease.

All seven Sierra Leonean doctors who have contracted Ebola have died.

Dr Kargbo’s death comes a day after Dr Martin Salia, a surgeon from Sierra Leone, died in the United States after being evacuated for treatment.

The Ebola outbreak has killed over 5,000 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Mali is currently facing a new wave of cases but Senegal and Nigeria have successfully contained outbreaks.

Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has set a goal of having no new cases by the end of December.

UN officials said the disease was still advancing rapidly in Sierra Leone, where there is a lack of treatment centres.

Indian man in Ebola quarantine

A man has been quarantined at New Delhi airport in India after showing traces of the Ebola virus in his bodily fluids.

Health officials said the 26-year old Indian national contracted Ebola in Liberia where he recovered, but traces of the deadly virus were detected in his semen upon his return to India.

The officials said blood tests on the man had come back negative for the virus, but Ebola was known to survive for up to 90 days in body fluids after a patient has recovered.

The man was not currently being treated as an Ebola patient, as he was showing no symptoms, but will remain in quarantine until the virus is no longer in his system.

Health experts have expressed fears that should the virus reach India, authorities could struggle to contain its spread in the densely populated nation.

Obama says Ebola fight far from over in West Africa

US president Barack Obama has warned the fight to stem the Ebola outbreak was far from over in West Africa, and called for continued vigilance despite progress in the region.

“As long as the outbreak continues to rage in the three countries in West Africa – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – this is still going to be a danger, not just for America, but for the entire world,” Mr Obama said.

“We are nowhere near out of the woods yet in West Africa.”

While lamenting an increase in the number of cases in Sierra Leone, Mr Obama cited good news from Liberia, where “our efforts, both civilian and military, are really paying dividends”.

“Although we should feel optimistic about our capacity to solve the Ebola crisis, we cannot be complacent simply because the news attention on it has waned. We have to stay with it,” Mr Obama said.

Nearly 2,200 US soldiers are in Liberia. The Pentagon initially planned to deploy up to 4,000 personnel but now the target level is at 3,000.

“What we found working with USAID (US Agency for International Development) and the government of Liberia was there is a lot of capacity here that we didn’t know about before,” General Gary Volesky, head of the American military contingent in Liberia, told reporters.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced last week the outbreak had left 5,177 people dead from around 14,500 cases since Ebola emerged in Guinea in December.

ABC/Reuters