Ebola: MSF Staff Member Infected in Liberia

Caitlin Ryan/MSF

 

PARIS/BRUSSELS, SEPTEMBER 17, 2014—The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today confirmed that one of its international staff members in Liberia has been diagnosed with Ebola hemorrhagic fever.

The staff member, a French national on assignment in Monrovia, was placed in isolation on Tuesday, September 16, after she developed ​​a fever. Laboratory tests performed the same day confirmed an Ebola infection. Following MSF medical evacuation procedures, she will be soon transferred to a specialized treatment center in France.

"MSF applies very strict protocols of protection for its staff—before, during and after their time in a country affected by the current Ebola outbreak,” said Brice de le Vingne, MSF director of operations. “This dramatically reduces the risk of transmission of the disease. However, the risk is part of such an intervention, and sadly our teams are not spared.”

The circumstances under which the contamination took place have not been determined. This is being investigated by MSF teams, under standard management procedures for such events.

For reasons of medical confidentiality, and to preserve the privacy of its staff member and her family, MSF will not provide any further comment at this time.

MSF has been responding to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa since March 2014. More than 2,000 MSF staff members are working in the region, including some 200 international staff.

A member of the burial team relays instructions at ELWA 3, MSF’s Ebola Management centre in Monrovia.
Caitlin Ryan/MSF