LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Doctors in West Africa have been fighting to control the largest outbreak of Ebola virus in history. One of those doctors, Sheik Humarr Khan, died of the disease yesterday in Sierra Leone.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Khan was something of a hero in Sierra Leone. He contracted the disease last week while overseeing treatment at a hospital there. Indeed health workers are especially vulnerable to contracting Ebola; it spreads through bodily fluids including sweat and saliva.
WERTHEIMER: The U.N. has confirmed over 1200 Ebola cases in this outbreak, there is no vaccine. 60 percent of those infected die.
MONTAGNE: A major regional airline in West Africa suspended flights yesterday to Sierra Leone and Liberia. Passengers departing from Guinea, the third country where people have died from Ebola, will be screened for symptoms. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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