UN worker dies of Ebola in Germany
A UN employee infected with Ebola has died at a hospital in Germany.
Doctors at the hospital in Leipzig said the man, 56, died despite receiving experimental drugs to treat the virus.
The outbreak has killed more than 4,000 people since March – mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria.
The World Health Organization described it as the “the most severe, acute health emergency seen in modern times”. The US and UK are among countries to have introduced scanning at airports.
Temperature checks
The man had been working as a UN medical official in Liberia – one of the worst affected countries – when he caught Ebola.
He arrived in Germany last Thursday for treatment and was put into a hermetically sealed ward, accessed through airlock systems.
“Despite intensive medical measures and maximum efforts by the medical team, the 56-year-old UN employee succumbed to the serious infectious disease,” a statement from St Georg hospital said.
He was the second member of the UN team in Liberia to die from the virus, the BBC’s Jenny Hill in Berlin says.
The patient, who is yet to be identified, was reportedly Sudanese.
He was the third Ebola patient to be treated for the deadly virus in Germany after contracting the disease in the outbreak zone in West Africa.
One patient – a Ugandan doctor infected in Sierra Leone – is still receiving treatment in a hospital in Frankfurt, while a Senegalese aid worker was released from a hospital in Hamburg after five weeks of treatment.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is alarmed by the number of health workers who have been exposed to the disease. It says 95 of the 233 medical staff who have died from the virus occurred in Liberia.
Many nurses and medical assistants there have ignored calls to strike over pay and working conditions.
The WHO has warned the epidemic threatens the “very survival” of societies and could lead to failed states.
The UK has announced screening for passengers arriving at London’s Heathrow airport from countries at risk.
People arriving from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea will be questioned and may have their temperatures taken.
The US is already screening passengers at five of its major airports.
Elsewhere:
- A unit of Sierra Leone’s international peacekeeping force on standby for deployment in Somalia has been placed in quarantine after one member was confirmed with Ebola
- A Spanish nurse remains in critical condition after becoming the first person to contract the disease outside of Africa last week, although doctors say there are signs of improvement
- UN Ebola mission leader Tony Banbury has called for massive support from governments worldwide, saying: “We need everything… we need it everywhere, and we need it superfast.” BBC
