A Maryland surgeon who was flown to the United States after contracting the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone has died, the Nebraska Medical Center announced Monday.
Dr. Martin Salia died shortly after 4 a.m. Monday as a result of the disease, according to the Nebraska Medical Center.
"Dr. Salia was extremely critical when he arrived here, and unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we weren't able to save him," said Dr. Phil Smith, medical director of the Biocontainment Unit at Nebraska Medical Center.
Salia was the third Ebola patient to be treated at the Omaha hospital and the 10th person with Ebola to be treated in the U.S.
"I want to thank our local heroes who took care of this global hero the past two days," Nebraska Medical Center Chief Nursing Officer Rosanna Morris. "Their work was second to none."
A citizen of Sierra Leone, Salia lived in Prince George's County, Maryland, and was a permanent U.S. resident, according to a person in the United States with direct knowledge of the situation.
Salia's wife, Isatu Salia, said Monday that she and her family were grateful for the efforts made by her husband's medical team.
"We're very grateful for the efforts of the team led by Dr. Smith. 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,'' she said.
"His life is an inspiration to us all, and his legacy of service will not be forgotten here in Prince George's County or around the world," Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker said.
Dr. Martin Salia, 44, was a general surgeon who had been working at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown. He said he chose the job because he believed God wanted him to do it.
Patients, including mothers who hours earlier had given birth, fled from the 60-bed hospital after news of the Ebola case emerged, United Methodist News reported.
The hospital was closed Tuesday after Salia tested positive, and he was taken to the Hastings Ebola Treatment Center near Freetown, the church news service said. Kissy hospital staffers will be quarantined for 21 days.
Salia came down with symptoms of Ebola on Nov. 6, but test results were negative for the deadly virus. He was tested again Monday, and this time tested positive.
By the time he was brought to the U.S. over the weekend, Salia was suffering from advanced symptoms of Ebola, including kidney and respiratory failure, the Nebraska Medical Center said in a statement.
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"We used every possible treatment available to give Dr. Salia every possible opportunity for survival,'' Smith said. "As we have learned, early treatment with these patients is essential. In Dr. Salia's case, his disease was already extremely advanced by the time he came here for treatment.''
Sierra Leone is one of the three West Africa nations hit hard by an Ebola epidemic this year. Five other doctors in Sierra Leone have contracted Ebola; all have died.
The Ebola virus has killed more than 5,000 people in West Africa, mostly in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
The hospital in Omaha is one of four U.S. hospitals with specialized treatment units for people with highly dangerous infectious diseases. It was chosen for the latest patient because workers at units at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital and the National Institutes of Health near Washington are still in a 21-day monitoring period.
Those two hospitals treated two Dallas nurses who were infected while caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who fell ill with Ebola shortly after arriving in the U.S. and later died.
The other eight Ebola patients in the U.S. recovered, including the nurses. Five were American aid workers who became infected in West Africa while helping care for patients there; one was a video journalist.
Salia's wife, Isatu Salia, said in a telephone interview over the weekend that when she spoke to her husband early Friday, his voice sounded weak and shaky. But he told her "I love you'' in a steady voice, she said.
They prayed together, she said, calling her husband "my everything.''