Martin Salia, the doctor who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone, died in a biocontainment unit at a Nebraska hospital on Monday, reports confirmed.
The Nebraska Medical Center announced in a statement that that Salia "passed away as a result of the advanced symptoms of the disease" despite efforts to treat him of the deadly virus.
According to Dr. Phil Smith, Nebraska Medical Center director of biocontainment unit, said that they gave their best effort to save Salia, but the 44-year-old doctor was already "extremely critical" when he was brought to the medical facility.
Salia was placed on continuous dialysis and ventilator when he arrived at Nebraska Medical Center, and also received convalescent plasma serum from previous Ebola patients who recovered from the disease.
The doctors also administered the experimental anti-Ebola drug ZMapp, which was also used to treat Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol in August, but hospital officials said that Salia's blood pressure plummeted continuously until he went into cardiac arrest.
"We used every possible treatment available to give Dr. Salia every possible opportunity for survival," Smith said in a press conference, Fox News reported. "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."
Hospital officials also announced that Salia's body will be cremated immediately because of the dangerous nature of the Ebola virus, which has already killed more than 5,000 people in West Africa. Most deaths are from heavily-hit countries Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Salia, a Sierra Leone native who is a permanent resident of the United States, treated Ebola patients at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in Sierra Leone. The surgeon showed Ebola-like symptoms on Nov. 6, but initially tested negative for the virus. Another test was performed on Monday, which confirmed that Salia contracted the disease.
"We are so appreciate of the opportunity for my husband to be treated here and believe he was in the best place possible," Salia's wife, Isatu Salia, told Fox News.
