Sunday, December 7, 2014

Cuban Doctor Back Home after Beating Ebola

Cuban Doctor Back Home after Beating Ebola
December 6, 2014

Dr. Felix Baez arriving in Cuba. Photo: Ismael Francisco/cubadebate.cu
HAVANA TIMES — The Cuban doctor who recovered from Ebola after
contracting it in Sierra Leone returned to the island on Saturday,
reported dpa news.

Felix Baez, the first known Latin American to have been infected with
Ebola, was discharged early today in Geneva, where he was taken for
treatment after his infection was confirmed in Africa in mid-November.

Baez told the press at Havana airport that he is "very pleased" to be
home in his country and "very grateful to all those who were concerned
for me from the beginning."

The doctor, one of 165 Cubans fighting against Ebola in Sierra Leone,
also said he wants to return to Africa to continue the task.

"I would like to confirm once again my commitment to my colleagues who
are there in Sierra Leone, with the Revolution and the Communist Party
of Cuba. I want to return to Sierra Leone and finish what I started," he
told Prensa Latina. Baez was received at the airport by Cuban Health
Minister Roberto Morales.

The Geneva University Hospital had said Friday that Baez had overcome
Ebola and would be released soon. The "testing has confirmed the
disappearance of the virus in his body fluids," the Ministry of Public
Health in Havana said in a statement.

The doctor contracted the disease in mid-November and days later was
transferred to Switzerland under an agreement between Cuba and the World
Health Organization (WHO) to treat Cuban health personnel who could
become sick with Ebola in West Africa.

Cuba has been at the forefront of the international fight against Ebola
by sending a total of 256 doctors and other health workers to the three
countries most affected by the epidemic, which has killed at least 6,187
people, according to the latest figures from the WHO.

In addition to the 165 aid workers in Sierra Leone, 91 Cubans are
working in Liberia and Guinea since mid-October. WHO currently estimates
the number of infections in the three African countries at 17,517,
considered the worst outbreak of Ebola in history.

Source: Cuban Doctor Back Home after Beating Ebola - Havana Times.org -
http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=107772

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