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A SECOND Sierra Leonean doctor has died after contracting the deadly Ebola virus, health officials have noted. Dr Modupeh John Eric Cole, a senior physician at the Connaught Hospital in Freetown, was diagnosed with Ebola last Friday and taken to the specialist Kailahun Treatment Centre the following day.
His death was confirmed by the country’s chief medical officer, Dr. Brima Kargbo. “We are all very, very saddened,” he said, adding that. Dr Cole was a “very powerful presence in the country’s medical team and has been very instrumental in the fight against the Ebola virus.”
Cole’s death came about two weeks after Sierra Leone’s leading anti-Ebola expert, Dr Umar Khan, also died from the virus.
Meanwhile, the deadly virus Ebola has claimed a third victim in Nigeria, taking the overall death toll to over 1,000 people since it was first reported in March 2014.
It is thought the latest victim, an official who came into direct contact with the disease in July, was in isolation before he died.
The outbreak, which has been declared an International Public Health Emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO), has mainly affected four countries in Africa - Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
The WHO has authorised the use of an experimental vaccine called Zmapp developed in Canada, in an effort to prevent health care workers contracting the virus.
