The American channel NBC news confirmed that one of its journalists, a 33-year-old American who worked freelance in Liberia, was infected. Ashoka Mukpo had worked in the African country for the channel for three years. He will be repatriated to the United States for treatment. The rest of the NBC team will also be repatriated and placed in isolation for twenty-one days, which corresponds to the incubation period of the virus.
The American channel specifies that the infected cameraman “was recruited Tuesday to be the second cameraman of the medical correspondent of NBC News, Dr. Nancy Snyderman”. His symptoms (fatigue, pain) appeared on Wednesday. “As part of a routine check of his temperature, he discovered that he was suffering from a slight fever,” said the channel. “He immediately quarantined himself and sought medical advice.” The test carried out in a Doctors Without Borders center turned out to be positive.
He is the fourth American to have contracted Ebola in Liberia but the first journalist. The others worked for humanitarian organizations.
The United States remains extremely vigilant to deal with a possible spread of the virus. About a hundred people remain under the control of the Texas health authorities. This monitoring device comes after the hospitalization in Texas of first case of Ebola infection on American soil. The man developed the symptoms a few days after returning from Liberia. The identity of the patient has been established: it is Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian whose state of health is considered serious. His family has been placed in quarantine.
