|
 The North Carolina-based group did not identify the doctor, who had
not been treating the Ebola patients hospitalized in isolation on
the missionary's sprawling campus.
It is not yet known how the physician contracted the often deadly
virus, the organization said.
"The doctor is doing well and is in good spirits," SIM USA said in a
statement.
The worst Ebola outbreak in history has infected more than 3,000
people and killed some 1,550 since it was first detected early this
year in West Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
The crisis appears to be worsening, U.S. health officials said on
Tuesday, predicting the number of Ebola cases will keep rising in
the next two weeks.
Missionaries from SIM USA, based in Charlotte, have been on the
front lines of the epidemic. Another of its U.S. aid workers, Nancy
Writebol, contracted the virus in July, also while working in
Liberia.
She went home two weeks ago after receiving care in an isolation
unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. She was also one of a
few patients to receive an experimental treatment called ZMapp,
although doctors at Emory said they could not determine whether it
had helped her recovery. She has since been resting in an
undisclosed location.
The U.S. doctor involved in the new Ebola case immediately isolated
himself when symptoms began, according to a SIM USA news release.
[to top of second column] |
He was later transferred to the Ebola isolation unit on the group's
136-acre (55-hectare) campus in Monrovia.
The missionary group could not immediately be reached to discuss the
doctor's condition and plans for his medical treatment.
"My heart was deeply saddened, but my faith was not shaken, when I
learned another of our missionary doctors contracted Ebola,” said
Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA said in a statement.
(Reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Fla., David Morgan in
Washington and Bangalore Newsroom; Editing by Diane Craft and Eric
Beech)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
