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Doctor Brought to Nebraska in 'Extremely Critical' Condition With Ebola Dies

Doctor Brought to Nebraska in 'Extremely Critical' Condition With Ebola Dies

"Early treatment with these patients is essential."

A Nebraska hospital said an Ebola patient brought to its biocontainment unit over the weekend for treatment died Monday.

Nebraska Medical Center said in a news release that Dr. Martin Salia died as a result of the disease.

"It is with an extremely heavy heart that we share this news," Dr. Phil Smith, medical director of the Biocontainment Unit at Nebraska Medical Center and professor of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said in a statement on the hospital's Facebook page. "Dr. Salia was extremely critical when he arrived here, and unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we weren't able to save him."

Ebola_1 Health workers in protective suits transport Dr. Martin Salia, a surgeon working in Sierra Leone who had been diagnosed with Ebola, from a jet that brought him from Sierra Leone to a waiting ambulance that will take him to the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014. Dr. Salia is the third Ebola patient at the Omaha hospital and the 10th person with Ebola to be treated in the U.S. (AP/Omaha World-Herald, Brendan Sullivan)

Salia contracted Ebola while working as a surgeon in Sierra Leone where he was a citizen. He arrived Saturday to be treated at the Omaha hospital, where two other Ebola patients have been successfully treated and since released.

The hospital described Salia's Ebola symptoms as advanced, including kidney and respiratory failure. Treatment upon arrival in Nebraska included dialysis, being placed on a ventilator and medications, including a dose of the experimental ZMapp therapy.

"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."

Salia's wife, Isatu Salia, also said in a statement that she was grateful for the team's efforts.

"In the short time we spent here, it was apparent how caring and compassionate everyone was," she said. "We are so appreciative of the opportunity for my husband to be treated here and believe he was in the best place possible."

Watch this report from WOWT-TV about the doctor's death:

The viral disease, which causes hemorrhagic fever, has killed more than 5,000 people in West Africa.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. This story has been updated to include more information.

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