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Sunday, 16 November 2014

US resident Dr Martin Salia has paid to be flown from Sierra Leone to America, where doctors say his situation is "hour-by-hour".

Dr Martin Salia

Dr Salia contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone

An Ebola-infected surgeon from Sierra Leone receiving treatment in the US is extremely critical, his doctors have said.
Dr Martin Salia was flown to Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha on Saturday, becoming the tenth Ebola patient to be treated on American soil.
Doctors at the hospital said although Dr Salia was stable enough to be airlifted to the US, he was too sick to walk off the plane.
Dr Martin Salia arrives at the Nebraska Medical Center
"We will do everything humanly possible to help him fight this disease," Dr Phil Smith, medical director of the hospital's Biocontainment Unit said in a statement.
"This is an hour-by-hour situation."
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The 44-year-old Sierra Leone native is married to a US citizen and maintains a residence in Maryland.
Isatu Salia said in a telephone interview with the AP news agency that her husband’s voice sounded weak and shaky when she spoke to him on Friday.
But he told her "I love you" in a steady voice, she said.
The Nebraska hospital where Dr Salia is now in isolation has successfully treated two other Ebola patients.
Prior to his arrival in Nebraska, the medical centre said in a statement that information from those treating Dr Salia in Sierra Leone indicated he may be in worse condition than previous Ebola patients who returned to the US.
Mrs Salia said her husband travels frequently between the US and his native Sierra Leone. She said he never stays in the US long because he believes people in Africa need him.
The surgeon was diagnosed with Ebola on 11 November after two initial tests for the virus came back negative.
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He had been working as a general surgeon at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown.
The hospital does not house an Ebola treatment unit, but Dr Salia had worked at least three other medical facilities, United Methodist News reported.
Some patients left the hospital after news of his diagnosis emerged, United Methodist said.
Only one Ebola patient - Liberian-born Thomas Eric Duncan - has died from the disease on US soil.
The last Ebola patient in America was released from a New York City hospital on Tuesday.
The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 5,100 people this year, most of them in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The Obama administration is asking Congress to approve a $6.2bn (£3.9bn) emergency aid request to help combat Ebola in West Africa.


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