Geneva, November 21 (RHC) -– A Cuban doctor who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone arrived in Switzerland for treatment and was able to walk off the transport plane, a Geneva medical official said Friday.
Dr. Felix Baez Sarría arrived on an overnight flight and was transported in a specially outfitted ambulance with a police escort to Geneva University Hospital.
Geneva canton (state) Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jacques-Andre Romand told The Associated Press the 43-year-old Baez wore a protective suit and mask as he got off the plane and climbed onto a gurney before boarding the ambulance.
Romand said doctors will decide on a treatment regime for Baez, which could include experimental drugs.
Baez, a member of the 165-person medical team Cuba sent to Sierra, caught the disease when he rushed to help a patient who was falling over. His treatment in Switzerland was organized through the WHO.
Ebola is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of sick patients — including blood, feces and urine. Health workers have been particularly vulnerable to contracting the virus.
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have been the hardest hit in the epidemic that has sickened more than 15,100 people since spring and caused more than 5,400 deaths, according to World Health Organization figures.