Ebola top virologist from Sierra Leone is dead

Ebola expert died in Sierra Leone

07/30/2014

The doctor and top virologist Sheik Umar Khan had treated more than 100 Ebola-infected people in West Africa, apparently infected themselves. Now he succumbed to the dangerous infectious disease. The one in his homeland as „National hero“ titled physicians could possibly have been treated in Hamburg.

Doctor had treated more than 100 Ebola-infected people
Sheik Umar Khan is dead. His doctors shared this on Twitter Tuesday. The doctor and top virologist, who turned 39, had treated more than 100 Ebola-infected people in West Africa, apparently having recently become infected himself. According to a message from the dpa news agency, the medical staff of the organization said „Doctors Without Borders“, they are saddened by the loss of Sheik Umar Khan, her patients and colleagues, „an inspirational man“. The one in his native Sierra Leone as „National hero“ designated doctors could have been reported unconfirmed possibly in Hamburg.

Patient should have been treated in Hamburg
On Tuesday, according to the University of Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), there were inquiries for the treatment of two infected persons. The World Health Organization (WHO) had asked if the employee of a health organization could be looked after there. It may have been Umar, who was considered one of the leading doctors in the fight against the Ebola epidemic. In addition, there has been a request for a second possible patient from Liberia since Monday, as reported by Stefan Schmiedel of the Tropical Medicine Section of the Bernhard Nocht Clinic in Hamburg on Tuesday afternoon.

Many helping doctors and nurses have already died
Numerous other doctors and nurses have been infected with their work, the majority of them did not survive. Just a few weeks ago, a Ugandan doctor had died in Liberia, and over the weekend, one of the leading physicians at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia succumbed to the disease. In addition, two Americans who work for a charity are ill. The Ebola viruses can be transmitted via feces, blood and other body fluids. Since diarrhea, vomiting and internal and external haemorrhages are typical Ebola symptoms, there is a high risk of infection. For medical personnel, contact with body fluids is difficult to avoid.

Lack of cooperation of the population
The lack of cooperation among the population is the main problem of the current epidemic in West Africa. „They have no chance“, said the director of virology at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Professor Stefan Günter. In addition, superstition, miracle doctors and voodoo magic had done the rest and were among the most powerful opponents of the doctors, as recently communicated. Katherine Mueller, spokeswoman for the Red Cross in Africa, said a few weeks ago: „Here in Sierra Leone, many people first turn to traditional healers for treatment.“ After the visit to Sierra Leone, she said that people's skepticism about doctors remains the biggest problem. In addition, many West Africans considered that Ebola does not exist.

Prevent a medical disaster
The possibility of intensive care treatment was a psychological signal to the helpers in Africa but that could not be done for all those affected. The Children's Fund Plan calls for joint international efforts on Tuesday, „to stop the spread of the Ebola epidemic and forestall a medical disaster.“ Civil Protection Expert at Plan, Unni Krishnan, said: „Ebola is no longer just a regional problem, the virus has become a medical crisis of far-reaching proportions.“ He demanded: „Now the international community has to fight it before it's too late.“

The heaviest Ebola epidemic in history
In March, history's most severe Ebola epidemic broke out in Guinea and quickly spread to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone. Only recently was a first case in Nigeria known, whereupon the state air traffic control authority drew consequences and the airline ASky with immediate effect forbidden to control goals in the country. A man from Liberia had traveled to Lagos last week with Ebola symptoms in an ASky machine. He collapsed at the airport of the largest city in Nigeria and died a few days later in quarantine. The current outbreak is the first of the disease in West Africa. According to WHO figures, there were a total of 1,201 cases by July 23, 672 people died from the disease. (Ad)