Ashoka Mukpo, 33, (left) is being flown back to the U.S. for treatment after being diagnosed with Ebola while NBC News' chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman is also returning and will spend 21 days in quarantine
A cameraman working for NBC News in Liberia has become the fourth American to contract the deadly Ebola virus. Freelance journalist Ashoka Mukpo, 33, is being flown privately back to the U.S. for treatment, while the network’s chief medical editor and correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman and the rest of her team are also returning and will be placed in quarantine for 21 days.
Neither Snyderman nor the other members of her team are currently displaying any signs of the disease, said NBC.
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| The freelance journalist has spent many years in West Africa doing human rights work and only recently returned to Liberia when the Ebola outbreak began |
The infected journalist was only hired this week to be a second cameraman for Snyderman, who has been reporting on the continuing spread of the deadly virus in the country's capital Monrovia. Mukpo, originally from Providence, Rhode Island, had been doing human rights work in West Africa for 'several years before returning to Liberia when the Ebola outbreak began, his father, Mitchell Levy, told ABC News.
He confirmed his son had been diagnosed and said: 'Ashoka is being evacuated to the USA where he will receive the best possible treatment. The doctors are optimistic about his prognosis.' The cameraman took to Facebook on a number of occasions while in West Africa, describing the desperation of the situation as it unfolded.
On September 18, he posted a message describing how he has seen some 'bad things' and told his friends how 'unpredictable and fraught with danger life can be'. The message appeared on the page:
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| Mukpo, from Providence, Rhode Island, recently posted on Facebook that he had seen some 'bad things' and told his friends how 'unpredictable and fraught with danger life can be' |
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| Snyderman and her crew have been reporting in recent days from a hospital in Monrovia, Liberia |
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| Mukpo has been involved in securing workers' rights in the West African countries and was a former advocate for a Non-Governmental Organisation |
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| At the hospital in Liberia, Snyderman and her team witnessed a sick 17-year-old girl being brought in on a wheelbarrow by her mother |
Snyderman has reported in recent days from a hospital in the city, where she witnessed a sick 17-year-old girl being brought in on a wheelbarrow by her mother. 'We are doing everything we can to get him the best care possible. He will be flown back to the United States for treatment at a medical center that is equipped to handle Ebola patients,' said NBC News President Deborah Turness said in a note to staff concerning the sick journalist. 'The rest of the crew, including Dr. Nancy, are being closely monitored and show no symptoms or warning signs,' she added.
'However, in an abundance of caution, we will fly them back on a private charter flight and then they will place themselves under quarantine in the United States for 21 days – which is at the most conservative end of the spectrum of medical guidance.'
Speaking to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Thursday evening, Dr Snyderman said that just the previous day the cameraman had appeared healthy when they were required to have their temperatures taken as a border crossing. At that time his temperature was considered normal, but as the day progressed he felt tired and achy and went to get some rest.
After he discovered that he was running a slight fever, he immediately quarantined himself and sought medical advice. On Thursday morning, he went to a Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) treatment center to be tested for the virus and received the positive result just under 12 hours later.
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| Dr Snyderman has been in Liberia reporting on the Ebola outbreak, but will now return to the U.S. and quarantine herself for 21 days |
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| Snyderman has tweeted her thanks for the support she has received since a member of her team in Liberia was diagnosed with Ebola |
Dr. Snyderman told Maddow that she believed his exposure to the virus happened sometime before he started working with the NBC crew, since it is usually eight to 10 days before the first symptoms are seen. 'The good news is this young man, our colleague, was admitted to the clinic very, very early,' she said. 'I spoke with him today. He's in good spirits. He's ready to get home - of course, appropriately concerned. But he will be airlifted out soon.'
She said that neither she nor the other three NBC employees has shown any symptoms or warning signs of Ebola infection. 'We observe the custom now, which is to not shake hands, to not embrace people, to wash our hands with diluted bleach water before we enter the hotel,' she said. 'We dip our feet in bleach solution.' She said she and the rest of her crew present little chance of giving it to anyone, unless they get sick.
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| Dr Snyderman has her temperature taken at a border crossing in Monrovia, Liberia. She told MSNBC that she and her crew were going above and beyond even the CDC's guidelines in their handling of their own health |
'We will be taking our temperatures twice a day, checking in with each other, and if any one of us suddenly spikes a fever or gets symptoms, we will report ourselves to the authorities,' she said. 'We are taking it seriously.'
The cameraman is the fourth American to have contracted Ebola in Liberia.
Aid workers Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol were infected in July while working for Samaritan’s Purse in Monrovia. Last month, Dr. Rick Sacra was diagnosed with the virus after working at a local hospital in Liberia. NBC News is withholding the cameraman's name at the request of his family. He has been working in the country for the past three years.
His diagnosis is believed to mark the first time an American journalist has been diagnosed with the deadly disease since the current outbreak in west Africa. 'In this part of Africa, it is out of control, and it remains the belly of the beast,' Snyderman had reported on Thursday morning on Today. Ebola has now killed over 3,300 people across West Africa.
- Daily Mail
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