A US healthcare worker who provided hospital care for an Ebola patient who later died has tested positive for the virus and is in a stable condition.

A healthcare worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who provided care for an Ebola patient has tested positive for Ebola in a preliminary test.

The first Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States died today, a little more than a week after his illness exposed gaps in the nation’s defences against the disease and set off a scramble to track down anyone exposed to him.

The head of the UN’s ebola mission has said aid workers are battling against time to stop the ebola virus from mutating and possibly become airborne.