An American photojournalist, who caught the Ebola virus in West Africa, is said to be on the way to Nebraska for treatment, reports said. He is not the first patient to be flown to the state in the hopes for a recovery.
"Ashoka Mukpo will be the second Ebola patient to be treated at the Nebraska Medical Center's specialized isolation unit and is the fifth American to be evacuated to the U.S. from Africa," Fox News reported. "The 33-year-old Mukpo was working as a freelance cameraman for NBC in Liberia last week when he became ill."
The Blade noted that Mukpo will be arriving Monday for treatment at the specialized isolation unit of Nebraska Medical Center.
According to CNN, the photojournalist was diagnosed with the deadly disease Thursday. He has since been transported via a "specially-equipped plane" on Sunday and will be brought right away to a remote area of the airport to a waiting ambulance, to prevent exposing other passengers to the patient.
This may trigger apprehensions among Americans over the issue of bringing over Ebola-infected individuals to the United States. The Centers for Disease Control, however, has repeatedly reassured the public of its confidence in containing the dreaded disease in the United States, The New York Times said.
The first Ebola patient flown to Nebraska, Massachusetts doctor Rick Sacra, was treated at a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska last month and was later cleared by the CDC after his blood samples showed no signs of the disease, The Boston Globe said. He contracted the virus while working in Liberia.
Recently, however, he went back to the hospital to have a "cough and low-grade fever" checked. His tests came back negative for Ebola.
"Dr. Robert Finberg, who is leading Sacra's medical team, said at a news conference earlier Sunday that doctors were confident Sacra's symptoms were not related to the Ebola virus he contracted in Africa," ABC News reported. "Finberg and hospital President Patrick Muldoon also stressed there was no threat to the public."
"Asked why doctors believe Sacra's symptoms were not related to Ebola, Finberg said he was not aware of any case of Ebola recurring in surviving patients, and Sacra was feeling better and eating," the publication added.
Dr. Sacra was reportedly "just being responsible" when he decided to go back to the hospital when he felt under the weather.
On the other hand, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States is in critical condition at a hospital in Dallas. The patient is reportedly not receiving experimental drugs meant to combat the virus, as they were "all gone," RT said.