Dr. Martin Salia, Surgeon Who Contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone and Flown to Nebraska Has Died

Dr. Martin Salia, the surgeon who had contracted Ebola while treating patients in Sierra Leone, West Africa and was flown to Nebraska over the weekend for treatment has died.  44 year old Dr. Salia was a native of Sierra Leone and a legal U.S. resident who was living in Sierra Leone and working at a hospital. He had been diagnosed with Ebola last week, sadly it was not caught soon enough to save him.  Sadly, Dr. Salia passed away from advanced stages of Ebola. According to Nebraska Medicine spokesman Taylor Wilson,  Martin Salia died at around 5 a.m. ET Monday.  Salia leaves behind a wife and two children who live in the Washington suburb of New Carrollton, Maryland.

Dr. Martin Salia … Rest in Peace

Dr. Martin Salia, a surgeon who was diagnosed with Ebola in Sierra Leone and flown to Nebraska over the weekend for treatment, has died, hospital officials said Monday.

Salia, 44, became the second person to die of the disease in the United States. Thomas Eric Duncan, who contracted Ebola in Liberia and traveled to Dallas, died last month.

Salia landed Saturday in Omaha. He was the 10th patient to be treated on American soil and the third at Nebraska Medical Center. Hospital officials had said that he was perhaps sicker than any other patient flown to the United States from West Africa.

“It is with an extremely heavy heart that we share this news,” said Dr. 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.”

CBS News: Ebola patient Dr. Martin Salia dies in Omaha, Nebraska.

Dr. Martin Salia, 44, had been described repeatedly by health workers as being much sicker than the Ebola patients previously brought to the U.S. for treatment.

“Dr. Salia was suffering from advanced symptoms of Ebola when he arrived at the hospital Saturday, which included kidney and respiratory failure,” the Nebraska Medical Center said in a statement. “He was placed on dialysis, a ventilator and multiple medications to support his organ systems in an effort to help his body fight the disease. He also received a dose of convalescent plasma and ZMapp therapy was initiated on Saturday.”

The hospital had been treating Salia in its biocontainment unit that has successfully treated two other Ebola patients this fall.