Ebola-Stricken Surgeon Arrives in Nebraska for Treatment

Dr. Martin Salia was infected while treating patients in Sierra Leone.

ByABC News
November 15, 2014, 3:51 PM

— -- The plane carrying a surgeon stricken with Ebola landed in Nebraska today, making him the 10th patient to be treated for the virus in the United States.

Dr. Martin Salia was infected with Ebola while treating patients at a hospital in Sierra Leone. He was not treating patients in an Ebola ward when he became infected, according to The Associated Press.

Salia, 44, is a permanent resident in the U.S. and married to a U.S. citizen.

PHOTO: Dr. Martin Salia, left, performs surgery at the United Methodist Church's Kissy Hospital
Dr. Martin Salia, left, performs surgery at the United Methodist Church's Kissy Hospital outside Freetown, Sierra Leone in April. The hospital was closed Nov. 11 after Salia, chief medical officer and surgeon, tested positive for Ebola.

The Sierra Leone native will be treated at the biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has treated two other Ebola patients, Dr. Richard Sacra and Ashoka Mukpo, a news cameraman.

Salia is reportedly "critically ill," but was stable enough for the lengthy flight to Omaha, University of Nebraska Medical Center officials said in a statement. He is "possibly sicker than the first patients successfully treated in the United States."

He was taken off the plane via a specially protected stretcher and transported to a waiting ambulance.

His wife, Isatu Salia, and their son planned to travel to Nebraska to be with him, the family told ABC News.

Dr. Martin Salia poses for a photo in April 2014 at the United Methodist Church's Kissy Hospital outside Freetown, Sierra Leone.
In this April 2014 photo provided by the United Methodist News Service, Dr. Martin Salia poses for a photo at the United Methodist Church's Kissy Hospital outside Freetown, Sierra Leone.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.