Ebola kills 2 more African physicians

Sierra Leoneans’ deaths blow to fight

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Two more Sierra Leonean doctors have died from Ebola, further depleting the West African country’s ability to respond to the outbreak, health officials said Saturday.

The deaths bring the number of Sierra Leonean doctors killed by Ebola to nine. The disease is spread through the bodily fluids of people showing symptoms and people who have died of the disease. Because transmission requires close contact with those fluids, health workers are among the most at risk of contracting it, and hundreds have become infected in this outbreak.

Dr. Thomas Rogers, who had worked at Connaught Hospital in the capital, died Friday, according to Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brima Kargbo. Dr. Dauda Koroma also died Friday, said Jonathan Abass Kamara, a spokesman for the Health Ministry.

In all, 11 Sierra Leonean doctors have been infected; one has recovered, and another is still in treatment.

Ebola has sickened more than 17,500 people, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Of those, about 6,200 have died. The disease is spreading fastest in Sierra Leone.

The high number of infections in health workers has deterred many from volunteering to work on Ebola wards, especially local health workers. While foreign doctors and nurses who have become infected have been evacuated for treatment at world-class hospitals abroad, locals are typically treated in-country.

In an effort to address that disparity, special clinics dedicated to the treatment of health care workers and staffed by foreigners have opened in Sierra Leone and Liberia and another is planned for Guinea. Rogers was treated at one of those, a clinic in Kerry Town staffed by British army medics.

Meanwhile, Dutch health officials said a U.N. peacekeeper who contracted Ebola in Liberia was expected to arrive in the Netherlands for treatment Saturday.

Health Ministry spokesman Inge Freriksen said the unidentified man, a Nigerian national, was scheduled to be admitted to the University Medical Center in Utrecht by the end of the afternoon. She said details of his arrival, condition and outlook are confidential.

The hospital contains one of four suites in the Netherlands equipped to deal with lethal infectious diseases.

Also Saturday, a Cuban doctor successfully treated for Ebola at a Swiss hospital returned home and was greeted by his family.

Felix Baez Sarria contracted Ebola while working with a Cuban government medical team in Sierra Leone and was flown to Geneva for treatment Nov. 20.

In a brief meeting with journalists at Havana’s international airport, Baez said that he and his colleagues in Africa are committed to fighting the Ebola outbreak.

“I will return there to finish what I started,” said the doctor, who was welcomed home by his wife and two sons.

Cuba has sent more than 250 medical personnel to several countries in West Africa to join in efforts to contain the epidemic.

Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press.