SIERRA LEONE DOCTOR DIES OF EBOLA IN U. S. HOSPITAL

Sierra Leone doctor dies of Ebola in US hospital

© Eric Francis/Getty Images/AFP | Dr Martin Salia, a surgeon infected with the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone, arrives at the Nebraska Medical Center on November 15, 2014

Text by FRANCE 24

Latest update : 2014-11-17
A doctor from Sierra Leone has died from Ebola at a hospital in the US state of Nebraska where he was being treated, the hospital said Monday.

Dr Martin Salia, a permanent US resident, contracted the virus while working in a hospital in Freetown, the capital of his native Sierra Leone.

He was flown to the Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha, on Saturday. The hospital had already successfully treated two other patients with Ebola.

“We are extremely sorry to announce that the third patient we’ve cared for with the Ebola virus, Dr Martin Salia, has passed away as a result of the advanced symptoms of the disease,” said the hospital in a statement.

Salia, 44, had been placed on dialysis, a ventilator and multiple medications as part of his treatment, said the hospital. He was also given donated plasma from a survivor of Ebola and the experimental drug treatment ZMapp.

“It is with an extremely heavy heart that we share this news,” said Phil Smith, medical director of the hospital’s Biocontainment Unit.

“Dr Salia was extremely critical when he arrived here, and unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we weren’t able to save him.”

Survived by wife and two children

Salia and his wife lived in New Carrollton, Maryland, a suburb of the US capital Washington. They have two children, age 12 and 20.

“We’re very grateful for the efforts of the team led by Dr Smith,” said his wife, Isatu, in a statement.

“In the short time we spent here, it was apparent how caring and compassionate everyone was. We are so appreciative of the opportunity for my husband to be treated here and believe he was in the best place possible.”

Salia was the 10th person with Ebola to be treated in the United States, and the second to have died from the infection.

He was chief medical officer at United Methodist Church's Kissy Hospital in Sierra Leone when he was confirmed last Tuesday to have contracted Ebola.

The West African country, along with Liberia and Guinea, has been one of the hardest hit by the current outbreak of Ebola, the worst on record. At least 5,177 people have been killed out of a total 14,413 cases of infection since December 2013, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)