Italian Doctor Contracts Ebola in Sierra Leone, Says Health Ministry

An Italian doctor hascontracted Ebola in Sierra Leone and is being flown back to Rome for specialisttreatment, the health ministry said on Monday.

The ministry said thedoctor, the first Italian to contract the disease, would arrive in Rome lateon Monday or early on Tuesday and be hospitalised at the Lazzaro Spallanzani nationalinstitute for infectious disease.

The doctor was working forNGO Emergency at a clinic for Ebola victims when he contracted the disease,which has killed more than 5,000 people in its latest outbreak in West Africa.

"We can reassure hisfamily that the doctor is feeling well," health minister Beatrice Lorenzinsaid in a statement.

"He did not have afever or other symptoms during the night and this morning he had hisbreakfast."

The NGO said the doctor haddeveloped some unspecified Ebola symptoms but was in a "good generalcondition."

The more serious symptomsof Ebola can take weeks to develop.

Emergency said all itsstaff in Sierra Leone had been trained to avoid contamination.

"However no healthcarein such a serious epidemic can be considered completely risk-free," theNGO said in a statement.

"The situation inSierra Leone is alarming: the epidemic is still widening with 100 new cases aday. According to the World Health Organisation there are more than 5,000people with Ebola in the country but the real figures could be muchhigher."