Doctor evacuated to US from Sierra Leone critical with Ebola

A physician infected with the Ebola virus is in "extremely critical condition" at the Nebraska Medical Center where he arrived yesterday to receive care, said hospital spokesman Taylor Wilson.

The patient was identified by the United Methodist Church as Martin Salia, chief medical officer and surgeon at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone.

That facility was closed on November 11th after Dr Salia tested positive for Ebola, said the church. The hospital is using the maximum supportive care possible to try to save his life, said Nebraska Medical Center.

He is the sixth doctor in Sierra Leone to be infected with the deadly virus; the other five died. "This is an hour-by-hour situation," said Dr Phil Smith, medical director of the biocontainment unit at the hospital and a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. "He is extremely ill. We . . . (are) targeting his most serious medical issues."

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the patient, a permanent US resident from Sierra Leone, was evacuated at the request of his wife, who lives in Maryland and will reimburse the government for the expense. Previous evacuation flights have cost about $200,000 (€160,000).

Dr Salia is the third person treated for the deadly virus at Nebraska Medical Center, following a missionary worker, Rick Sacra, and a freelance journalist, Ashoka Mukpo. Both were evacuated from West Africa after becoming infected, and recovered.

The Omaha medical centre has a sealed biocontainment unit separate from other areas used to care for patients. Treatment for the Ebola patients has included experimental drugs and blood serum from an Ebola survivor.

While the virus has spread throughout west Africa, killing more than 5,170, its impact has been mostly limited to the countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. A separate outbreak in Congo which killed at least 49 people is over, reports yesterday indicated, citing Congo's minister for health Felix Kabange Numbi. 
Bloomberg

Eight people treated in US hospitals have been cured. The only person to die of Ebola in the US, Thomas Eric Duncan, was initially released from a Dallas hospital in September before returning with worsening symptoms. Two nurses were infected after contact with Duncan; both recovered.

There is no specific treatment to cure the disease.