An American cameraman helping to cover the Ebola outbreak for NBC News in Liberia has tested positive for the deadly virus, the network reported.
He will be flown back to the United States for treatment. The rest of the NBC News crew will also be returned to US and placed in quarantine for 21 days, NBC News President, Deborah Turness said on Thursday, October 2, 2014.
He is the fifth American to contract the virus.
Earlier this week, US recorded the first case of Ebola in their soil when a man who lives in Liberia but was visiting family members in Dallas tested positive.
The NBC News cameraman, Ashoka Mukpo, 33, who has contracted the virus in Liberia has been working in the West African nation for three years for Vice News and other media outlets, and has been covering the Ebola epidemic.
He was hired Tuesday to be a second cameraman for NBC News Chief Medical Editor and Correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman.
Ashoka’s first symptoms began on Wednesday when he began to feel tired and achy on Wednesday and discovered he had a slight fever.
He immediately went to a treatment center on Thursday to be tested, and is being kept there.
“The good news is this young man, our colleague, was admitted to the clinic very, very early. 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,” Snyderman said.
She however noted that neither she nor the other three NBC employees has shown any symptoms or warning signs of Ebola infection.
She said: “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. 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.
“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.”
Meanwhile, the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has sent a team of personnel to Nigeria to study how the West African nation contained the killer Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).
This comes after the first case of Ebola was diagnosed on American soil, the US officials arrived Nigeria on Thursday which it claimed had the best practices in combating Ebola Virus disease.
Nigeria has been declared Ebola-free by the health ministry as no new case has been reported since August 31.
