Doctors Without Borders staffer contracts Ebola, will be evacuated to France
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Aug. 4, 2014: According to local reports the sale of water buckets has increased dramatically, because they are used by Liberian people to fill with disinfectant and to wash their hands to prevent the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, in the city of Monrovia, Liberia. Dozens of local doctors and medical staff are among the dead, as foreign aid workers are arriving to help fight the Ebola outbreak and the Liberian government Information Minister Lewis Brown announced that all Ebola victims are to be cremated as fears rise that the disease could spread with bodies being buried in residential areas. (AP/Jonathan Paye-Layleh)
Doctors Without Borders says one of its staff members has contracted Ebola while working in Liberia and will be evacuated to France.
In a statement Wednesday, the medical charity said the female French employee developed a fever on Tuesday.
The disease is spread by direct contact with the bodily fluids of the sick, leaving health care workers especially vulnerable to infection.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, Doctors Without Borders has to date only had six local staff fall sick with Ebola, and it was never clear if they became sick through their work or in the communities where they live.
The organization has more than 2,000 people working in the region, including 200 international workers.