Sierra Leone Surgeon Critically Ill With Ebola Arrives In U.S. For Treatment
At first, Dr. Martin Salia thought he had malaria or typhoid. A surgeon working in Leone, he told his wife back in Maryland that he had...
http://www.africaeagle.com/2014/11/sierra-leone-surgeon-critically-ill.html
At first, Dr. Martin Salia thought he had malaria or typhoid.
A surgeon working in Leone, he told his wife back in Maryland that he had a headache and fever. He had two negative tests for Ebola, his wife said. Then the third came back positive.
Salia left Saturday on a flight to the States, said Sierra Leone’s chief medical officer, Dr. Brima Kargbo. Salia landed at Airfield in Omaha on Saturday afternoon and was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center.
His wife, Salia, said in a telephone interview that when she spoke to her husband early Friday his voice sounded weak and shaky. But he told her, ‘‘I love you,’’ in a steady voice, she said.
The two have prayed together, and their children, ages 12 and 20, are coping, Salia said, calling her husband ‘‘my everything.’’
She said her husband travels frequently between the States and his native Leone but never stays in the States long because he believes people back in Africa need him.
Salia is the third Ebola patient to be treated at the hospital and the 10th treated in the States. The last, Dr. Craig Spencer, was released from a New York hospital on Tuesday.
The Omaha hospital said the medical crew transporting Salia determined that his condition was stable enough for him to make the lengthy flight to Omaha. However, it also said that information from the team caring for him in Leone indicated that he is critically ill and ‘‘possibly sicker than the first patients successfully treated in the United States.’’
A Sierra Leone citizen, Salia lives in Maryland and is a permanent US resident, according to a person in the States with direct knowledge of the situation.
The person was not authorized to release the information and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Salia had been working as a general surgeon at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown. Kissy is not an Ebola treatment unit, but Salia worked in at least three other medical facilities, United Methodist News said, citing health ministry sources.
Source: Boston Globe
A surgeon working in Leone, he told his wife back in Maryland that he had a headache and fever. He had two negative tests for Ebola, his wife said. Then the third came back positive.
Salia left Saturday on a flight to the States, said Sierra Leone’s chief medical officer, Dr. Brima Kargbo. Salia landed at Airfield in Omaha on Saturday afternoon and was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center.
His wife, Salia, said in a telephone interview that when she spoke to her husband early Friday his voice sounded weak and shaky. But he told her, ‘‘I love you,’’ in a steady voice, she said.
The two have prayed together, and their children, ages 12 and 20, are coping, Salia said, calling her husband ‘‘my everything.’’
She said her husband travels frequently between the States and his native Leone but never stays in the States long because he believes people back in Africa need him.
Salia is the third Ebola patient to be treated at the hospital and the 10th treated in the States. The last, Dr. Craig Spencer, was released from a New York hospital on Tuesday.
The Omaha hospital said the medical crew transporting Salia determined that his condition was stable enough for him to make the lengthy flight to Omaha. However, it also said that information from the team caring for him in Leone indicated that he is critically ill and ‘‘possibly sicker than the first patients successfully treated in the United States.’’
A Sierra Leone citizen, Salia lives in Maryland and is a permanent US resident, according to a person in the States with direct knowledge of the situation.
The person was not authorized to release the information and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Salia had been working as a general surgeon at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown. Kissy is not an Ebola treatment unit, but Salia worked in at least three other medical facilities, United Methodist News said, citing health ministry sources.
Source: Boston Globe
