Sudanese Ebola patient dies in Germany

Berlin, Oct 14 (IANS/EFE) An Ebola patient who was flown from Liberia to Germany for treatment for the virus has died, officials at the St. Georg hospital in Leipzig said Tuesday.

The patient was a 56-year-old Sudanese worker for the UN and the third Ebola victim to be flown to Germany from Africa.

"Despite intensive medical measures taken and the medical staff's efforts" the man died early Tuesday, the media quoted hospital spokesman Martin Schamlz as saying.

The patient had been airlifted from Liberia on a specially-equipped plane and was admitted to the St. Georg clinic, one of the seven hospitals in Germany that has isolation units for highly infectious diseases.

The first patient with Ebola received in Germany was admitted to the University Hospital of Eppendorf in Hamburg.

ThaT patient, a Senegalese employee of the World Health Organisation, was infected in a laboratory in Sierra Leone and was discharged after five weeks of treatment.

A Ugandan doctor who worked for an Italain NGO in Sierra Leone is being treated for Ebola at the University Hospital of Frankfurt.

Germany has 50 beds ready for use by patients with Ebola and has four airports prepared to tackle suspected cases that can be found on board an airplane.

--IANS/EFE

ab/vm