A 44-year old American doctor, Dr Martin Salia who was diagnosed with the deadly Ebola Virus in Sirra Leone has been reported dead today, Monday, November 17, 2014 at a hospital in Nebraska around 5am.
Salia, landed at Eppley Airfield in Omaha in the afternoon of Saturday, November 15, 2014 for treatment.
Five other doctors in Sierra Leone who contracted the virus have all died.
This puts the figure of Ebola virus death toll in the United States at two after Thomas Eric Duncan, who contracted Ebola in Liberia and traveled to Dallas, died in October.
Dr. Phil Smith, medical director of the hospital’s biocontainment unit said, “It is with an extremely heavy heart that we share this news,”
“Dr. Salia was extremely critical when he arrived here, and unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we weren’t able to save him.”
Before he was confirmed positive of the disease last week, the deceased surgeon was resided in Sierra Leone and worked at a hospital although he hailed from Sierra Leone and a legal U.S. resident.
He is survived by a wife and two children who live in the Washington suburb of New Carrollton, Maryland.
One of his sons, Maada, told NBC News last week that Salia knew the risk of working in West Africa but decided to save lives.
He said, “Even though he knows the sickness is already out, he decided to still go and help his people because he wanted to show that he loves his people,” “He’s really, really a hero to me.”
The Ebola outbreak, the worst in recorded history, has killed more than 5,000 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
