WHO Shuts Lab In Sierra Leone After Employee Contracts Ebola; Worker Flown To Germany For Treatment

News outlets report on the WHO’s actions to improve safety for its employees and contractors working in African countries affected by the Ebola outbreak, as the first WHO employee infected with Ebola arrives in Germany for treatment.

New York Times: WHO Moves Team in Sierra Leone After a Medical Worker Contracts Ebola
“The World Health Organization announced Tuesday that it had removed its Ebola response teams from a region of Sierra Leone that has been hardest hit by the outbreak after a Senegalese epidemiologist there contracted the virus…” (Fink, 8/26).

Reuters: WHO shuts Sierra Leone lab after worker infected with Ebola
“…[WHO spokesperson Christy Feig] said she could not assess what impact the withdrawal of WHO staff would have on the fight against Ebola in the Kailahun, the area hardest hit by the disease. The WHO said in a later statement that staff would return after an investigation was completed, adding that testing would continue in the meantime at the Kenema laboratory…” (Fofana/Coulibaly, 8/26).

Associated Press: U.N. scientist with Ebola in Germany for treatment
“A scientist who was infected with Ebola while working for the World Health Organization in Sierra Leone has arrived in Germany for treatment in a Hamburg hospital, officials said Wednesday…” (Rising, 8/27).

Wall Street Journal: Ebola Patient Arrives in Germany for Treatment
“…The Senegalese health worker, the first Ebola patient to be treated in Germany, will be transferred to the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, or UKE, which specializes in the treatment of highly infectious diseases…” (Thomas, 8/27).

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