BREAKING: NBC News cameraman diagnosed with Ebola, Dr. Put in Quarantine
NBC News cameraman diagnosed with Ebola and station's chief medical correspondent put in quarantine: News team flown back to U.S. from Liberia in new deadly virus scare (Daily Mail) An American cameraman working for NBC News in Liberia has become the fourth U.S. citizen to contract Ebola Freelance journalist Ashoka Mukpo, 33, is being flown home for treatment He was working alongside the news network's chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman She and the rest of her team are also being flown back to the U.S. and will spend the next 21 days in quarantine 'The rest of the crew, including Dr. Nancy, are being closely monitored and show no symptoms or warning signs' said a statement from NBC Ebola diagnosed in cameraman working with NBC Dr. Nancy Snyderman, NBC News chief medical editor and correspondent, talks live from Monrovia, Liberia with Rachel Maddow about the photojournalist working with an NBC team in Liberia, who has been diagnosed with Ebola, and what next steps they’ll take. 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. 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, who had been doing human rights work in West Africa for 'several years, returned 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.' 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. 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. '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.
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