Top Sierra Leone Doctor Dies of Ebola Virus
The top doctor for Sierra Leone's fight against the ebola virus died from the disease Tuesday, country officials announced.
Doctor Sheik Umar Khan, who led the ebola treatment campaign in Sierra Leone, died Tuesday, less than a week after he was diagnosed with the debilitating disease that includes fever, nausea, vomiting, and the decreased function of the liver and kidneys. The doctor was 39-years-old when he passed away, and was responsible for running a treatment center in the country's northeastern town of Kailahun.
Sierra Leone's health ministry released a statement called Khan a "national hero" who was reportedly responsible for treating over 100 patients suffering from the Ebola virus, also known as hemmoraghic fever.
"It is a big and irreparable loss to Sierra Leone as he was the only specialist the country had in viral haemorrhagic fevers," Sierra Leone's chief medical officer, Brima Kargbo, said in a statement to Reuters.
The death of Khan comes after the virus claimed 672 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since its outbreak began in February.
Another doctor, 33-year-old U.S.-born Kent Brantly, is one of two U.S. doctors who have also recently been infected with the virus. Brantly, the director of Samaritan's Purse Ebola center in Liberia, is reportedly praying for a recovery from the deadly disease.
"We're just trusting God for his life," the physician's mother, Jan Brantly, said in a recent interview. "We're praying, and we're sustained by our faith." Another worker at the clinic, American Nancy Writebol, has also been infected with the virus.
