Top doctor in Sierra Leone dies from Ebola infection

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Dr. Victor Willoughby, a senior doctor in Sierra Leone who contracted the Ebola virus last weekend, has died.

His family was initially optimistic that an experimental drug known as ZMab, related to ZMapp, sent by the Canadian government to treat Willoughby would cure him. "This is nothing short of a miracle," his daughter, Khalida Willoughby, said Wednesday of the available treatment. "We are all just praying and praying so he can get better and continue his work of making other sick people get better."

The two dosages of ZMab, however, were not able to be administered before Willoughby's death.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 7,300 people have died from the Ebola virus in West Africa this year -- 2,470 of them in Sierra Leone. Willoughby is the 11th doctor to die from an Ebola infection.