Doctor with Ebola arrives in US for treatment

A surgeon who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra
Leone arrived in Nebraska on Saturday for treatment at a bio-
containment unit where two other people with the disease have been
successfully treated.
Dr Martin Salia, who was diagnosed with Ebola on Monday, landed
at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on Saturday afternoon and was taken by
ambulance to the Nebraska Medical Centre.
The hospital said the medical crew that accompanied Salia, 44, from
West Africa determined he was stable enough to fly, but that the team
caring for him in Sierra Leone indicated he was critically ill and
"possibly sicker than the first patients successfully treated in the
United States".
The disease has killed more than 5 000 people in West Africa, mostly
in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leona. Of the 10 people treated for the
disease in the US, all but one has recovered.
Salia's ambulance to the hospital was accompanied by a single
Nebraska State Patrol cruiser and a fire department vehicle - a
subdued arrival in contrast to the August delivery of Dr Rick Sacra,
whose ambulance was flanked by numerous police cars, motorcycles and
fire vehicles.
First sign of symptoms
Salia has been working as a general surgeon at Kissy United
Methodist Hospital in Freetown. It's not clear whether he was
involved in the care of Ebola patients.
Kissy is not an Ebola treatment unit, but Salia worked in at least
three other facilities, United Methodist News said, citing health
ministry sources.
Salia, a Sierra Leone citizen who lives in Maryland, first showed
Ebola symptoms on 6 November but tested negative for the virus. He
eventually tested positive on Monday.
The US State Department said it helped facilitate the transfer of
Salia; the US Embassy in Freetown said he paid for the expensive
evacuation. The travel costs and care of other Ebola patients flown to
the US have been covered by the groups they worked for in West
Africa.
Patient sounds weak, shaky
Salia's wife, Isatu Salia, said in a telephone interview that when she
spoke to her husband early on Friday his voice sounded weak and
shaky. But he told her "I love you" in a steady voice, she said.
The two prayed together, and their children, ages 12 and 20, are
coping, Isatu said, calling her husband "my everything".
Nebraska Medical Centre spokesperson Taylor Wilson said members of
Salia's family were not at the hospital on Saturday, but were expected
to arrive "in the near future".
Sierra Leone is one of the three West Africa nations hit hard by an
Ebola epidemic this year. Five other doctors in Sierra Leone have
contracted Ebola, and all have died.