Frankfurt ready to treat Ebola patient

Germany could soon receive its second Ebola patient for treatment, the Frankfurt University Hospital has confirmed.

A spokesperson for the Hesse state Ministry of Social Affairs told the press in Wiesbaden on Thursday that the hospital was prepared for the admission of the infected aid worker, but that the patient was suffering severe symptoms and could not currently be transported to the hospital.

The official gave no further details on the patient, nor did she say in which country he or she had been infected. It remained unclear when or if the patient could be treated in Frankfurt. She said more information would be given at a press conference on Friday.

Germany received its first Ebola patient, a specialist for the World Health Organization, at the end of August. He was flown to the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf from West Africa and is still being treated there. He had contracted the virus while working at a clinic in Kailahun, Sierra Leone.

"Terrifying" situation in Sierra Leone

Over 3,300 people have died in West Africa's Ebola epidemic since February. The virus causes diarrhea, vomiting and internal bleeding; it spreads through contact with bodily fluids.

Sierra Leone, along with Liberia and Guinea, is one of the worst-hit West African nations. Rob Mac Gillivray of the Save the Children charity said on Thursday that the country's current rate of five new infections per hour was "far outstripping [hospital] supply" there.

He said the shortages were causing the virus to spread at a "terrifying rate."

He pointed out that the country had only 327 hospital beds and an "untold number of children are dying anonymously at home or in the streets."

The organization warned that the infection rate could increase to 10 new cases per hour by the end of October.

Meanwhile, the virus has spread to the US, which announced its first infection, in the state of Texas, earlier in the week.

sb/msh (dpa, epd, AP)