UN peacekeeper in Liberia tests positive for Ebola

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.

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 neighboring 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.