Thebrave medical people on the front lines of fighting the deadly Ebola epidemichave been named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year.” This year the virus has claimed more than 6,000 lives and the healthcare workers have risked their own lives to care for victims all over the world.
Ebola survivor and counsellor Salome Karwah appeared on one of the covers
Theoutbreak has mostly been confined to the African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, and victims' symptoms haveincluded fever, internal and external bleeding, and organ failure.
The magazine celebrated the heroic workers by releasing multiple covers, each with a different fighter on it.
Dr. Kent Brantly was running a treatment center in Monrovia when he became the first American to be infected
Dr. Kent Brantly, medical missionsadvisor for Samaritan's Purse and the first American to be affected with thevirus, told TODAY "It’s an incredible honor."
"Those whopaid the highest price for their service are themselves West Africans. It’s anhonor for me to be considered as a part of that group," he said on Wednesday.
TheEbola fighters beat out seven other finalists to win the prestigious honor. These included singer Taylor Swift, Chinese Internet tycoon Jack Ma, Apple CEO Tim Cook and IraqiKurdish leader Masoud Barzani.
Ella Watson-Stryker works for Doctors Without Borders and has been helping fight Ebola since March
Themagazine's readers voted for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to receive thetitle but the editors at the magazine had the final say and chose "the personor persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, andembodied what was important about the year."
Lastyear’s winner of the title was Pope Francis.
