OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A surgeon who contracted Ebola while working in his native Sierra Leone has died while being treated in a biocontainment unit at a Nebraska hospital, the facility said Monday.
Nebraska Medical Center said in a news release that Dr. Martin Salia died as a result of the disease.
“Dr. Salia was extremely critical when he arrived here, and unfortunately, despite out best efforts, we weren’t able to save him,” said Dr. Phil Smith, medical director of the biocontainment unit.
Salia arrived Saturday to be treated at the Omaha hospital, where two other Ebola patients have been successfully treated.
Ebola has killed more than 5,000 people in West Africa, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leona.