The doctor who was tested positive for the Ebola virus after working in Sierra Leone died on Monday at the Nebraska Medical Center where he was being treated.
The surgeon who was brought to the hospital on Saturday has been identified as Dr. Martin Salia, a native of Sierra Leone who is permanently residing in the United States, Reuters reported.
Salia is the third Ebola patient taken to the Nebraska hospital. The two others have recovered from the disease.
Dr. Phil Smith, a director at the Nebraska hospital's biocontainment unit, told Reuters that Salia had been under "very critical condition" since he arrived at the hospital.
"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," a statement released by the Nebraksa Medical Center quoted Dr. Phil Smith as saying.
The statement also said that when Salia arrived in Nebraska, he had already been "suffering from advanced symptoms of Ebola." He had already been having kidney and respiratory failure, it said.
Because of this, he then underwent dialysis and was put on ventilator. He also received multiple medications including a dose of convalescent plasma and ZMapp therapy.
Fox News noted that Ebola patients Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol who returned to the US were also treated with ZMapp in August. However, Salia was treated with a new batch of ZMapp.
"We used every possible treatment available to give Dr. Salia every possible opportunity for survival...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," Dr. Smith was quoted in the statement as saying.
Salia who had been working at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone showed Ebola symptoms on November 6 but he was tested negative for the disease, Fox News said. He was confirmed with Ebola on Monday. It is still not clear where he contracted the virus.
Salia's wife Isatu expressed her gratitude to Dr. Smith. "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 in a statement.
Shelly Schwedhelm, also one of the directors at Nebraska hospital's biocontainment unit, said in the statement that they have been affected "personally" by Salia's death. "While losing any patient is always extremely difficult, although our effort here was brief, everyone gave every ounce of effort they had. The collective feeling of loss has been overwhelming."
According to the latest data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 5,177 deaths have already been recorded. This is out of the 14,413 total cases recorded. Liberia had the most number of deaths and cases with 2,812 deaths out of the 6,878 cases.
This was followed by two other West African countries Sierra Leone and Guinea. Sierra Leone had 1,187 deaths out of the 5,586 cases while Guinea had 1,166 deaths out of the 1,919 cases, data showed.
At least three deaths out of the four cases were recorded in Mali. Eight deaths out of the 20 total cases were recorded in Nigeria. Meanwhile, Senegal and Spain both have one confirmed case.
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