Sierra Leone’s top Ebola doctor is dead from Ebola
We offer prayers for Our People suffering from dis-ease and genocide.
PSALM 91- Psalm of Protection:
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide [1] under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: [2] the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. 14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. 15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. 16 With long [3] life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
——————————–
A Sierra Leone doctor who treated more than 100 Ebola patients has died from the virus, the country’s chief medical officer Brima Kargbo confirmed to the media on Tuesday. Sheik Umar Khan has been hailed as a “national hero” for his work treating Ebola. The virologist was infected earlier in July, and treated at a facility run by the international charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).
“I am afraid for my life, I must say, because I cherish my life,” Khan told Reuters in a June interview about his work fighting the deadly outbreak of the disease in his country. He added, “Health workers are prone to the disease because we are the first port of call for somebody who is sickened by disease. Even with the full protective clothing you put on, you are at risk.” Before Khan’s death, three nurses working at his treatment center also died of the disease.
Nearly 700 people have died in what in now the worst Ebola outbreak in history, concentrated mostly in west Africa. The virus spreads by direct contact with bodily fluids, and often moves more rapidly in remote areas. There is no vaccine or cure for Ebola, and it kills many who contract it. According to the Centers for Disease Control, doctors can only offer “supportive therapy” to patients with Ebola, and isolate the patient so that he or she can’t infect others.
This particular outbreak has worried many health officials for a few reasons. Among them: the disease is killing those working to treat patients. In addition to Khan and the nurses at his center, the disease killed one of Liberia’s top doctors and infected two Americans combating the outbreak there. The outbreak has spread so rapidly that Liberia is running out of room for all of its patients. And it’s begun to spread beyond the three countries where the outbreak is concentrated, in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. A Liberian man named Patrick Sawyer died in Nigeria after flying from Liberia. Officials are concerned that Sawyer may have passed on the disease to other passengers on the flight, which landed in the densely-populated city of Lagos. As it turns out, Sawyer was planning on taking another flight later this month, to visit his family in Minnesota.
Source: Washington Post
