Ebola kills Liberian physician, infects American

A physician from Liberia has been killed and an American infected by Ebola in Liberia.

Samaritan's Purse, an aid agency, said on Sunday that the American physician, 33-year-old Dr. Kent Brantly, along with his fellow countrywoman Nancy Writebol, who is an aid worker, was diagnosed with the disease.

"They're both receiving intensive early treatment, but certainly it's a dangerous situation and a frightening situation," said Melissa Strickland, a spokeswoman for the agency.

This comes as a Liberian physician, Dr. Samuel Brisbane, died of Ebola on Saturday, said Tolbert Nyenswah, an assistant health minister.

Brisbane was involved in the treatment of Ebola patients in his country’s capital Monrovia.

Another doctor from Sierra Leone, Sheikh Umar Khan, fell victim to the virus last week, and is presently being treated. 

According to the World Health Organization, at least 1,201 people have been infected in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea since the epidemic broke out in the region months ago. Last week, Nigeria also recorded its first Ebola death.

Guinea is the worst-hit country with 319 deaths as of July 23. Liberia has reported 129 deaths, while 224 have lost their lives in Sierra Leone.

There is currently no known cure for Ebola, a form of hemorrhagic fever whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding.

The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can also be spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.

Ebola was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976 in an outbreak that killed 280 people.

It remains one of the world’s most virulent diseases, which kills between 25 to 90 percent of those who fall sick.