12 October,2014 09:08 AM IST | | Agencies
Staffers could have come in contact with an international member who was diagnosed with Ebola last week
Monrovia: Liberia's United Nations peacekeeping mission has placed 41 staff members, including 20 military personnel, under "close medical observation" after an international member of its medical team was diagnosed with Ebola this week - the second mission member to test positive for the deadly disease.
No further transmission
"This measure is precautionary and meant to ensure that the disease doesn't get transmitted further," the mission said in a statement on Friday. "None of the personnel who are contacts have shown symptoms but will be observed for the full 21-day incubation period," it further said.
The World Health Organisation says that 21 days is the maximum incubation period for Ebola, which is spread via the bodily fluids of infected people. The 41 staffers were identified as having possibly come into contact with the member of the medical team, whose name and nationality have not been disclosed.
The patient tested positive on Monday and arrived in Germany on Thursday for treatment - the third Ebola patient to be flown there. The St Georg Hospital in Leipzig said this week the patient would be placed in a special isolation unit.
