The doctor leading Sierra Leone's fight
against the worst Ebola outbreak on
record has died from the virus, the
country's chief medical officer said.
The death of Sheik Umar Khan, who was
credited with treating more than 100
patients, follows the deaths of dozens of
local health workers and the infection of
two US medics in neighbouring Liberia.
Ebola is believed to have killed 672 people
in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since
the outbreak began in February, according
to the World Health Organisation. The
contagious disease has no known cure.
Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea and
internal and external bleeding.
Khan, 39, hailed as a "national hero" by
the health ministry, had been moved to a
treatment ward run by the medical
charity Médecins Sans Frontières in the
far north of Sierra Leone.
He died on Tuesday afternoon, less than a
week after his diagnosis was announced,
and on the same day that the president,
Ernest Bai Koroma was due to visit his
treatment centre in the north-eastern
town of Kailahun.
"It is a big and irreparable loss to Sierra
Leone as he was the only specialist the
country had in viral haemorrhagic fevers,"
said the chief medical officer, Brima
Kargbo.
The west African airline Asky has
suspended flights to and from Sierra
Leone and Liberia as concern over the
spread of the virus has increased since
the first death was reported last week in
Nigeria's coastal city of Lagos, home to 21
million people.
Togo-based Asky said it would no longer
take on food in Guinea, where the
outbreak was first identified. It said
passengers leaving the Guinean capital,
Conakry, would be checked for signs of
the disease before departure. The airline
added that medical teams would be
deployed to screen passengers in transit
through its Lome hub. The Lagos victim
was a Liberian who travelled to Nigeria on
Asky via Lomé.
Nigeria's largest carrier, Arik Air, has
suspended flights to Liberia and Sierra
Leone because of the Ebola risk.
The fatality rate of the current outbreak
is around 60%, although the disease can
kill up to 90% of those who catch it.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/29/sierra-leone-ebola-doctor-dies

Rip. The death toll keeps increasing. Why

Why is this post not on front page?