The top doctor treating patients infected with the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone has died from the disease, officials have confirmed.
Dr Sheik Umar Khan had been hospitalised in quarantine since he contracted the virus last week. The virologist was credited with treating more than 100 patients at the hospital in Kenema – one of the world’s leading Ebola diagnosis facilities.
The current outbreak is the largest in history, so far killing more than 672 people across West Africa since the outbreak began in February, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Nations affected include Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria.
Dr Khan’s death on Tuesday afternoon was confirmed by chief medical officer Dr Brima Kargbo, who had previously hailed him as a “national hero” when she announced he had contracted the the disease.
“It is a big and irreparable loss to Sierra Leone as he was the only specialist the country had in viral haemorrhagic fevers,” Kargbo said on Tuesday.
Dr Khan was being treated at an Ebola ward run by the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, which has in recent weeks described the disease’s West African outbreak as “out of control”.