Ebola: Another American doctor tests positive in Liberia

Another American doctor has tested positive for Ebola in Liberia, the missionary organization SIM USA announced Tuesday.

A release by the organization stated that the unnamed missionary doctor was noy working with Ebola patients. He was treating obstetrics patients at the organization's ELWA hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. He isolated himself immediately upon developing symptoms and has been transferred to the Ebola isolation unit.

The physician becomes the fourth American to be diagnosed of the disease that has killed many in West Africa. Another physician, Kent Brantly, and a missionary volunteer, Nancy Writebol, who also were working at ELWA hospital, were flown to the US where they were treated with ZMapp, an Ebola experimental drug at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where they both recovered.

The fourth is a Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who fell ill upon his arrival in Nigeria and died of the disease.

Manwhile, officials who are battling the outbreak in five African countries warned Tuesday morning that the situation is reaching a critical stage.

“Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it,” Joanne Liu, the international director of Doctors Without Borders, said in a briefing before the United Nations. “Leaders are failing to come to grips with this transnational threat.”