NEW-YORK, November 17. /TASS/. Surgeon Martin Salia who was infected with the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone and delivered to the US for treatment has died, representatives of the hospital reported. 

A 44-year-old Salia, a citizen of Sierra-Leone, who had a permanent resident card of the US, was delivered to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha last Saturday. On Sunday the hospital reported that he was in critical condition.

Medical center in Omaha is one of the four medical institutions in the United States, equipped for the treatment of patients with Ebola. It is where an American doctor Rick Sacra and NBC cameraman Ashoka Mukpo infected with Ebola in Liberia were delivered earlier. Sacra fully recovered and was released from hospital in September and Mukpo — in October.

According to the World Health Organization, the number of victims of the Ebola outbreak has already exceeded 5 thousand people, the majority of them in Liberia, Sierra-Leone and Guinea.  

Cases of infection and death of Ebola in the US

The first case of the Ebola disease in the US was diagnosed on September, 28. Thomas Duncan who arrived from Liberia turned out to be sick. On October, 8 he died in Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

A few days later two nurses taking care of Duncan were also infected with the virus. Both women fully recovered. An American doctor Craig Spencer who came from Guinea was the fourth in the US to be diagnosed with the disease. On November 11 he was released from hospital in New-York.

Quarantine in airports

To reduce the risk of Ebola spreading in the US, the governments of California, Illinois, New-York and New-Jersey have imposed 21-day quarantine for doctors and tourists, coming from West African countries and contacting with those infected with the Ebola virus.

There are three of five airports in the US in these states which are allowed to accept flights from Liberia and Sierra-Leone. These are John Kennedy airport in New-York, New-Ark airport in New-Jersey and Chicago airport (Illinois). Moreover, passengers from West Africa can fly to air harbors in Washington and Atlanta (Georgia).

Representatives of the US Department of Health, Doctors Without Borders organization and the UN opposed the necessary quarantine for the medical staff, coming from the Ebola spread countries. According to them, it can lead to unwillingness of the medical staff to go to West Africa.

On October, 27 the government of New-York under pressure from the White House softened the security measures. The state Governor Andrew Cuomo said that those arriving from the zone of the epidemic will be allowed to undergo quarantine at home, if the symptoms of infection would not be detected. Moreover, they will get the compensation for the income they lost during these three weeks.