NBC Cameraman Has Ebola

And quarantined Dallas apartment still not sanitized
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 3, 2014 4:18 AM CDT
Updated Oct 3, 2014 7:56 AM CDT
NBC Cameraman Has Ebola
The Ivy Apartment complex is guarded by a patrol in Dallas, Texas.   (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Nathan Hunsinger)

A freelance cameraman working in Liberia has become the fourth American to become infected with Ebola there. Ashoka Mukpo has been working in Liberia for the last three years and he developed symptoms, including fever and aches, on Wednesday this week, just a day after he was hired by NBC News, reports the BBC. The 33-year-old immediately quarantined himself and sought medical advice, and other members of the news team are not showing symptoms, NBC says. Mukpo will be sent back to the US for treatment, the network says, and the rest of the crew, including NBC News Chief Medical Editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman, will be flown back to the US and will "place themselves under quarantine" for 21 days.

"Having lived there for the last several years, Ashoka was well aware of the risks but felt strongly about trying to help provide honest perspective from the ground level," his father said in a statement. "Ashoka is being evacuated to the USA, where he will receive the best possible treatment. The doctors are optimistic about his prognosis." In Dallas, meanwhile, Liberian Ebola patient Thomas Duncan remains in the hospital; if he survives, Liberia plans to prosecute him for lying on a health form. His girlfriend, her 13-year-old son, and two adult nephews are quarantined in their apartment, where the sheets and towels he used when he was sick remain, reports CNN. She says she has had to sign paperwork saying that she would commit a crime by going outside, but a work crew that was supposed to sanitize the apartment has not arrived. (More Liberia stories.)

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