10th Sierra Leonean doctor dies from Ebola as disease continues to hammer health workers

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – A health official says another Sierra Leonean doctor has died from Ebola, the 10th to succumb to the disease.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brima Kargbo confirmed Sunday that Dr. Aiah Solomon Konoyeima died a day earlier. His death came a day after two other doctors died from Ebola, emphasizing the terrible toll the disease has taken on health care workers.

Konoyeima worked at a children’s hospital in the capital and tested positive for Ebola about two weeks ago.

Because Ebola is transmitted through the bodily fluids of the sick and dead, it is sometimes called the “caretakers’ disease.” Hundreds of health workers have been infected in this outbreak.

In the current outbreak, Ebola has sickened more than 17,500 people, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. About 6,200 have died.