has put herself in quarantine as a precaution against Ebola after one
of her assistants died from the disease, the government said on
Saturday.
Bernice Dahn is the latest senior West African medical official to be
directly affected by an outbreak of Ebola, which has killed over 3,000
people as it spreads across most of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
"She has placed herself under self observation due to the fact that
her special assistant contracted the virus," Isaac Jackson, Liberia's
deputy information minister, told Reuters.
Jackson said that the government praised Dahn's decision to come
forward to be monitored after potentially coming into contact with the
disease.
"If everyone were to do what Dr. Dahn has done, Liberia would be free
of Ebola," he said.
The latest figures from the World Health Organization show that the
death toll from the worst outbreak of Ebola on record has killed at
least 3,091 people, out of 6,574 probable, suspected and confirmed
cases.
Liberia has recorded 1,830 deaths, around three times as many as
Guinea or Sierra Leone, the two other most affected countries. Nigeria
and Senegal have had confirmed cases of Ebola but appear to have
prevented it from spreading.
Although relatively common in Central Africa, the hemorrhagic fever
has taken West Africa by surprise, spreading into heavily populated
areas and across borders before authorities were able to coordinate
their response.
Already weak national health care systems have been over-run by the
disease, which has infected 375 health care workers in the region,
killing 211 of them.
Sheik Umar Khan, the doctor leading the fight against Ebola in Sierra
Leone, contracted the disease himself and died in July.
Foreign governments and international organizations are dispatching
funds, supplies and personnel to the region amid warnings that the
disease could claims tens or hundreds of thousands of lives before it
is halted.
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