The leading doctor in the battle against the Ebola virus, Sheik Umar Khan of Sierra Leone, passed away on Tuesday, a little less than a week after contracting it.

Hailed as a national hero by the Ministry of Health, the top Ebola doctor helped more than 100 patients get better over the course of his battle against the disease since the outbreak began in February.

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Prior to his diagnosis, three nurses he was working with had already been claimed by the disease. However, this did not stop him from continuing his work in helping more Ebola patients get better.

"It is a big and irreparable loss to Sierra Leone as he was the only specialist the country had in viral hemorrhagic fevers," Brima Kargbo, chief medical officer, stated.

Khan led Sierra Leone's only hemorrhagic fever hospital in eastern Kenema, and later spearheaded the bout against the Ebola virus which broke out earlier this year.

The 39-year-old doctor died at the Doctors Without Borders treatment facility in Kailahun, Sierra Leone on the same day that President Ernest Bai Koroma was scheduled to visit him.

Dr. Khan is now one of 672 people killed in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa over the past five months.

Since they are the ones exposed to the disease, medical personnel are considered to be the most vulnerable people when it comes to contracting the virus.

Aside from Khan, Ugandan doctor and Liberian health official Dr. Samuel Brisbane also died from the disease within the same month.

Two American doctors are also being treated in Liberia. Reports indicate that both are in stable condition and are being taken good care of.

To isolate and impede the virus from spreading any further, flights to and from Sierra Leone and Liberia have been suspended.

TagsEbola Virus, ebola doctor dies, top ebola doctor, Ebola outbreak