Advertisement

NIH to treat U.S. doctor exposed to Ebola virus

 
Published Sept. 28, 2014

Washington

NIH to treat U.S. doctor exposed to Ebola virus

An American physician who was exposed to the Ebola virus is expected to be admitted to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., in the coming days, the research agency said in a statement Saturday. The patient, who was volunteering in an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone, will be admitted out of what the agency called "an abundance of caution. The NIH did not release the patient's name or any more information. In Liberia on Saturday, the country's chief medical officer announced she would quarantine herself after her office assistant died of the virus. Bernice Dahn, a deputy health minister who has represented Liberia at regional conferences about combating the epidemic, told the Associated Press that she did not have any Ebola symptoms but wanted to ensure she was not infected.

Spain

Region calls for secession vote

The president of Spain's powerful northeastern region of Catalonia on Saturday formally called an independence referendum, one of the most serious challenges to the Spanish state in recent years. Catalan leader Artur Mas signed the decree to call the referendum in a ceremony in the regional government headquarters in Barcelona, flanked by political leaders who support the vote. Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said the Spanish government will hold a Cabinet meeting so the referendum can be challenged before Spain's Constitutional Court.

Times wires