A doctor from Sierra Leone infected with the Ebola virus has died after being flown to the United States for treatment, the Nebraska Medical Centre says.
"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," the hospital said in a statement.
Hospital officials had said he was seriously ill when he was airlifted to the United States from West Africa.
"Dr Salia was extremely critical when he arrived here, and unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we weren't able to save him," Dr Phil Smith, medical director of the Biocontainment Unit at Nebraska Medical Center, said.
Dr Salia, 44, was chief medical officer at United Methodist Kissy Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone, when he tested positive last week for Ebola, according to the United Methodist Church's news service.
The news service said it was unclear how or where Dr Salia contracted the virus.
He worked at several other medical facilities in addition to Kissy Hospital.
The church's news service said Dr Salia had never practiced medicine in the United States.
He trained as a doctor in Sierra Leone's College of Medicine and Allied Sciences, his wife said.
His evacuation was at the request of his wife, an American who lives in Maryland and who has agreed to reimburse the US government for any expense, the State Department said.
Dr Salia was the third Ebola patient treated at the Nebraska Medical Center.
His treatment included a dose of convalescent plasma and ZMapp therapy, as well as being placed on dialysis, a ventilator and multiple medications to support his organs, the hospital said.
The two other Ebola patients treated by the hospital were infected in Liberia and recovered from the disease.
Dr Salia was the tenth person with Ebola to be treated in the United States, and the second to have died from the infection.
In October, Liberian man Thomas Eric Duncan died at a Texas hospital of the virus which has killed thousands of people in West Africa in the largest outbreak in history.
The World Health Organisation said Friday that 5,177 people are known to have died of Ebola across eight countries, out of a total 14,413 cases of infection, since December 2013.
AFP/Reuters
Topics: diseases-and-disorders, infectious-diseases-other, united-states, sierra-leone First posted November 18, 2014 01:13:19View the original article here
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