Too Late

Treatment Delays Doomed Ebola Doctor

Impossible for anyone to save him.

Dr. Martin Salia, the surgeon who contracted Ebola in his native Sierra Leone and died Monday at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, did not receive aggressive treatment until nearly two weeks after he first started showing symptoms—a delay that doctors said probably made it impossible for anyone to save his life. Salia was in the 13th day of his illness when he reached Omaha on Saturday. He had waited three days to be formally diagnosed after an initial test for Ebola came back negative. He then waited five more days to be flown to the United States. By the time the 44-year-old Maryland man got to the medical center in Omaha, the deadly virus had done too much damage, shutting down his kidneys and making breathing difficult, doctors said.