A Cuban doctor treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone has become infected and was being sent to Geneva for treatment, officials said. He’s the first Cuban known to have caught Ebola.
The doctor, identified by Cuba's official website Cubadebate as Dr. Felix Baez, is one of 165 Cuban doctors and nurses treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. They have been there since early October.
They are part of a Cuban team of 256 medical professionals sent to West Africa to treat patients caught up in an epidemic that’s infected more than 14,000 people and killed more than 5,000 of them.
Baez, a specialist in internal medicine, had a fever on Sunday and tested positive on Monday after being taken to the capital Freetown, Cubadebate reported, citing a Health Ministry statement.
"Our collaborator is being tended to by a team of British professionals with experience in treating patients who have displayed the disease and they have maintained constant communication with our brigade," the statement said.
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-- Reuters
