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Doctor With Ebola Dies in Nebraska Hospital

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Health workers in protective suits transport Dr. Martin Salia, a surgeon working in Sierra Leone who had been diagnosed with Ebola, at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., Nov. 15, 2014.
Health workers in protective suits transport Dr. Martin Salia, a surgeon working in Sierra Leone who had been diagnosed with Ebola, at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., Nov. 15, 2014.

The Nebraska Medical Center said a doctor from Sierra Leone who was being treated for Ebola has died.

The hospital released a statement Monday saying Martin Salia had died "as a result of advanced symptoms of the disease."

Salia was the third Ebola patient to be treated at the hospital and the second person to die of the disease in the United States.

The White House extended condolences to his family and loved ones.

In a statement, the White House said Salia's passing is "another reminder of the human toll of this disease and of the continued imperative to tackle this epidemic on the frontlines."

The World Health Organization Friday reported a slight rise in the Ebola death toll, saying there have been 5,177 deaths among 14,413 confirmed cases worldwide, since the start of the current outbreak.

The WHO said there has been a "steep increase" in the number of cases in Sierra Leone, including 421 new infections reported this past week.

Liberia Ebola goal

Meanwhile, the hardest hit West Africa country, Liberia, has set a national goal of recording no new cases by Christmas, December 25.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said in a nationwide radio address Sunday that her country's path to recovery will be difficult.

Sirleaf said Liberia's health care system must be better prepared for any future disease epidemic, with sharp improvements also needed in the country's economy and governance.

More than 2,800 of West Africa's 5,165 Ebola deaths have been recorded in Liberia.

On Sunday, U.S. health officials said travelers from Mali will be subject to the same screening and monitoring as people arriving from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. That includes taking arriving travelers' temperatures and questioning them about their health and possible exposure to the Ebola virus.

Although Mali is not suffering from a widespread Ebola outbreak, there have been a number of confirmed cases there in recent days.

In another development, the United Nations confirmed Monday that its Ebola crisis manager for Guinea, Marcel Rudasingwa, has died. The U.N. said he died from natural causes, not from Ebola.

Rwandan national Rudasingwa, who was a U.N. Assistant Secretary-General, was appointed to the post in Guinea last month. He had previously worked for the U.N. Children's Fund for almost 20 years, the statement said.

Some material for this report came from Reuters.

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