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UN peacekeeper in Liberia tests positive for Ebola

An UN soldier stands in front of a tent in the new Ebola Treatment Center US built by the United States army on November 10, 2014 in Tubmanburg, the provincial capital of Bomi County in western Liberia.
An UN soldier stands in front of a tent in the new Ebola Treatment Center US built by the United States army on November 10, 2014 in Tubmanburg, the provincial capital of Bomi County in western Liberia. ZOOM DOSSO/AFP/Getty Images

MONROVIA, Liberia – The U.N. peacekeeping force in Liberia says one of its members has been infected with Ebola.

This is the mission’s third case linked to the disease. The previous two died.

The country’s top U.N. envoy, Karin Landgren, said in a statement late Thursday that a peacekeeper tested positive the day before. The patient is being treated in Monrovia.

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Landgren said 16 people who came into contact with the soldier have been quarantined. Areas the peacekeeper visited while symptomatic have been decontaminated.

The Ebola outbreak has sickened nearly 17,300 people, killing about 6,100. The disease has hit Liberia hardest, in neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The U.N. force, with about 7,700 troops and police, has been in Liberia since 2003 to bring stability after civil war.

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