Ebola-Infected Cuban Doctor Successfully Treated at Swiss Hospital

A Cuban doctor infected with Ebola has been released from hospital in Switzerland following successful treatment.

MOSCOW, December 6 (Sputnik) — Felix Baez Sarria, a Cuban doctor who had gone to Sierra Leone to fight Ebola before catching it himself, has been released from hospital in Switzerland on Saturday after successful treatment, Switzerland’s TheLocal.ch has reported.

"The tests carried out confirm the disappearance of the virus in his body fluids, so he will soon be released," a statement by the Cuban Health Ministry had said Friday, before Baez’ release.

Baez, 43, had volunteered to travel to Sierra Leone before being infected by the virus late last month. He was flown to the Geneva University Hospital November 20, becoming the first Ebola patient in Switzerland, hospitalized at the request of the World Health Organization.

Late last month Baez was said to have shown signs of “significant improvement” following treatment with ZMab, an experimental Canadian developed drug. ZMab is a precursor to ZMapp, which is a drug that has been used to treat several patients in the US, Reuters explains. ZMab has since been sent to Rome to treat an Italian doctor fighting the virus.

Cuba has been praised by the international community for its response to the Ebola outbreak, sending hundreds of doctors and nurses to the West African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea to combat the outbreak.

Recent estimates by the World Health Organization note that Ebola has claimed over 6,100 lives. Reuters noted that two Sierra Leonean doctors died Friday after contracting the virus. Nearly 350 medical personnel are said to have died in the outbreak this year, 106 of them from Sierra Leone.