TheCable

A day after Martin Salia died in the United States after being brought in from Sierra Leone for treatment, another Sierra Leonean doctor has died of Ebola.

A senior health worker at the Hastings Treatment Centre in the outskirts of Freetown told Reuters on Wednesday that the doctor died on Tuesday afternoon.

“Dr Michael Kargbo died this afternoon,” the health worker said, asking not to be named.

At least 128 of Sierra Leone’s health personnel have been infected with Ebola, as staff working in general wards and special treatment centres have been exposed to the disease.

All Sierra Leonean doctors who have contracted Ebola have died, with Kargbo being the seventh.

It could not be established how Kargbo, a 64-year-old dermatologist working at the Magburaka Government Hospital, was infected as he was not serving in a frontline Ebola treatment unit.

The current Ebola outbreak, which is the worst on record, has killed over 5,000 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

While Senegal and Nigeria have successfully contained the disease, Mali is facing a new wave of cases.

UN officials say the disease is advancing rapidly in Sierra Leone, where there is a lack of treatment centres.