Ebola alert: Second death in US as Sierra Leone doctor succumbs

A doctor from Sierra Leone, who was being treated at a US hospital for Ebola, died on Monday. This is the second death in the country due to the deadly virus which has killed thousands of people in West Africa.

Sierra Leone native and a US resident, Martin Salia (44), was infected with the deadly hemorrhagic fever while treating patients in his home country and was flown to Omaha, Nebraska for treatment on Saturday.

In a statement, the Nebraska Medical Centre said that Dr Salia who was being treated in its bio-containment unit died as a result of the advanced symptoms of the disease.

"Dr Salia was suffering from advanced symptoms of Ebola when he arrived at the hospital on Saturday, which included kidney and respiratory failure," the hospital said.

"He was placed on dialysis, a ventilator and multiple medications to support his organ systems in an effort to help his body fight the disease."

Salia was the 10th person with Ebola to be treated in the United States, and the second to have died from the infection.

In October, a Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, died at a hospital in Texas of the virus which has killed thousands of people in West Africa.

Salia was the third patient to be treated at the Omaha hospital, where two other Ebola patients have recovered.

The surgeon and his wife lived in New Carrollton, Maryland, a suburb of the US capital Washington. They have two children, age 12 and 20.