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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced it will monitor for 21 days anyone entering the United States from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, west African nations that have been hard-hid by the Ebola virus.
Beginning Monday, travellers from those nations will be expected to check in with health officials daily, and provide updates on their temperatures and any possible Ebola symptoms. The move was announced Wednesday, a day after the Obama administration announced new restrictions on travellers from the same three countries, routing them through the US airports with Ebola-screening procedures in place.
Meanwhile, the American cameraman who contracted Ebola while covering the outbreak in Liberia as an NBC freelancer has been cleared of the virus and is due to leave the specialist unit in Omaha where he was nursed to health.
Ashoka Mukpo, 33, has been receiving treatment at a biocontainment unit at Nebraska medical centre in Omaha since arriving in the US on 6 October. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that Mukpo’s blood test was negative, meaning the virus is no longer in his bloodstream.
“Recovering from Ebola is a truly humbling feeling,” Mukpo said in a statement. “Too many are not as fortunate and lucky as I’ve been. I’m very happy to be alive.”
Just got my results. 3 consecutive days negative. Ebola free and feeling so blessed. I fought and won, with lots of help. Amazing feeling
— ashoka (@unkyoka) October 21, 2014
The knowledge that there's no more virus in my blood is a profound relief. I'm so lucky. Wish everyone who got sick could feel this.
— ashoka (@unkyoka) October 21, 2014
Mukpo is one of eight Ebola patients who have been treated in the US. He said on Twitter that he does not know how he contracted the virus, but he does not regret covering the outbreak.
“But I don’t regret going to Liberia to cover the crisis. That country was a second home to me and I had to help raise the alarm,” he said in the statement.
Mukpo is the second Ebola patient to walk out of the Nebraska hospital virus-free. Dr Rick Sacra, a family physician from Massachusetts who contracted the virus while caring for patients in Liberia, was released from the unit on 25 September.
“Our staff was confident it would be able to successfully care for another patient,” Dr Phil Smith, medical director of the biocontainment unit, said in a statement. “We’ve learned firsthand that caring for a patient with the Ebola virus presents challenges you don’t face in the regular hospital environment. But our years of training on protocol in the unit and gaining familiarity with all the personal protective equipment was certainly an advantage for us.”
Mukpo received a blood transfusion from Ebola survivor Dr Kent Brantly, who also donated his blood to Sacra. Survivor’s blood contains antibodies that are thought to help Ebola patients’ immune systems fight the disease.
Meanwhile, a Dallas nurse who contracted the virus while caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, America’s Ebola patient zero, has been upgraded from “fair” to “good”, the hospital said on Tuesday.
Nina Pham’s condition had dropped upon her arrival at the National Institutes for Health (NIH) specialist facility in Bethesda, Maryland, last week. Dr Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said at the time that the disease is fatiguing and Pham’s journey from Texas to Maryland has exhausted her.
A second nurse, Amber Vinson, is being treated at a similar facility at Emory University hospital in Atlanta. On Twitter, Mukpo wished the nurses well.
Still thinking about those nurses. Look forward to the day you two get news like this too...
— ashoka (@unkyoka) October 21, 2014
There are only four biocontainment units in the US. They include Nebraska medical center in Omaha; the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland; Emory University hospital in Atlanta; and St Patrick hospital in Missoula, Montana.
The hospital statement said Mukpo would speak to reporters after his release. On Twitter, he said he would be happy to talk to the media, but only after he sees his family.
Last thing. I'm going to be happy to talk to the media but not until after I'm out of the hospital and have a chance to see my family.
— ashoka (@unkyoka) October 20, 2014
