UPDATE Doctor Martin Salia Dies At Nebraska Hospital

Dr. Martin Salia, a surgeon infected with the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone, arrives at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska on November 15, 2014 ©Eric Francis (Getty/AFP)

Martin Salia, 44, a legal US resident, a surgeon who was infected with Ebola while working in his native Sierra Leone died Monday, becoming the second patient in the United States to succumb to the hemorrhagic virus. He was infected with Ebola while treating patients in his home country. The virus has killed thousands in West Africa since the start of the year.

Salia was flown to Nebraska for treatment on Saturday, but doctors said he was unresponsive by the time he arrived, struggling to breathe and his organs were failing.

"Dr Salia was suffering from advanced symptoms of Ebola when he arrived at the hospital Saturday, which included kidney and respiratory failure," the Nebraska Medical Center said in a statement.

"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, who had been ill with Ebola for 13 days by Saturday, was also given donated plasma from a survivor of Ebola and the experimental drug treatment ZMapp.

Twelve hours after arriving in Nebraska, he went into complete respiratory failure and his blood pressure dropped. He died around 4:00 am (1000 GMT) on Monday, his medical team said.

"It is with an extremely heavy heart that we share this news," said Phil Smith, medical director of the hospital's Biocontainment Unit.

"Dr Salia was extremely critical when he arrived here, and unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we weren't able to save him."

- Tenth patient treated in US -

Salia was the 10th person with Ebola to be treated in the United States, and the second to have died from the infection that causes vomiting, diarrhea and often fatal bleeding.

In October, a Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, died at a Texas hospital of the virus.

The Nebraska Medical Center had previously treated a US missionary doctor, Rick Sacra, and a freelance photojournalist, Ashoka Mukpo, who were both infected in Liberia and survived.

When Salia first began to show symptoms of Ebola in Sierra Leone, a test for the virus came back negative, according to the Washington Post.

A second test, on November 10, was positive. Smith said it is not uncommon for an early test to come back negative, when the virus is less present in the blood.

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

"We're very grateful for the efforts of the team led by Dr Smith," his wife Isatu said in a statement.

"In the short time we spent here, it was apparent how caring and compassionate everyone was. We are so appreciative of the opportunity for my husband to be treated here and believe he was in the best place possible."

Nurses from a Los Angeles hospital hold placards while marching during a lunch hour rally drawing attention to properly equipping and educating nurses on the Ebola crisis on November 12, 2014 ©Frederic J. Brown (AFP)

The World Health Organization said Friday that 5,177 people are known to have died of Ebola across eight countries, out of a total 14,413 cases of infection, since December 2013.

Salia is seen in an April video distributed by United Methodist Kissy Hospital outside Freetown, where he worked, describing why he wanted to treat patients in Sierra Leone.

"I took this job not because I want to, but I firmly believe it was a calling," he said. "I strongly believe that God has called me here."