UN peacekeeper trooper tests positive for Ebola
Iran Press TV
Fri Dec 5, 2014 3:30PM GMT
A United Nations peacekeeper has tested positive for the deadly Ebola infection in Liberia and is to be transferred to the Netherlands for treatment.
According to Inge Freriksen, a Dutch Health Ministry spokeswoman, on Friday, the Nigerian soldier will be flown to the capital, Amsterdam, and then carried to the city of Utrecht.
The University Medical Center Utrecht will quarantine the soldier at a 'calamity unit,' Freriksen added.
The infected soldier had been a member of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), which has been stationed in Liberia since 2003 to restore peace and stability to the violence-ravaged country after two deadly civil wars.
The Ebola epidemic has so far claimed the lives of around 6,100 people all around the world, while more than 17,300 people have been infected.
The virus has been most devastating in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.
Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding. The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can also spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.
The virus has killed around two-thirds of those it has infected over the last four decades. There is currently no known cure for Ebola.
FNR/HMV/SS
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