Cuban doctor Felix Baez, who was treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, tested positive for the disease and was being sent to Geneva for treatment, said officials on Tuesday.

Baez, who is a specialist in internal medicine, had a fever on Sunday and tested positive on Monday after being taken to the capital Freetown, according to news site Cubadebate. He is the first Cuban known to have contracted the disease.

World Health Organization (WHO) urged to send Baez to a university hospital in Geneva, where he would be treated by experts in infectious diseases.

“Our collaborator is being tended to by a team of British professionals with experience in treating patients who have displayed the disease and they have maintained constant communication with our brigade,” said a statement of Cuban Health Ministry.

Baez is part of the 165 Cuban doctors and nurses treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone that were deployed in the country since October, with another 53 in Liberia and 38 in Guinea.

Cuba sent a team of 256 medical staff to West Africa to fight the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 5,000 people in the region.

Another 205 have undergone three weeks of training, with extensive practice in using protective full-body suits, and are ready to receive an Ebola assignment.

The Cuban commitment to treating Ebola patients in West Africa has won international praise as more substantial than contributions from many wealthy countries.

The island is known for the expertise of its doctors and their great efforts in humanitarian missions. More than 50,000 Cuban medical personnel are posted in 66 countries.

In the Cuban medical culture there is popular slogan: “We do not give what we can spare. We share what we have.”