Thursday, October 23, 2014

Ebola Survivors | How NBC News Freelancer Survived Ebola

Image: Ashoka Mukpo

MAGGIE FOX | NBC
Being young and healthy helped Ashoka Mukpo pull through Ebola, but he’ll be weak for months, doctors who treated him said Wednesday.

Mukpo, a freelance journalist and camera operator who was on contract with NBC News when he got sick in Liberia, left the biocontainment unit at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha after getting two blood tests a day apart that cleared him of the virus.

“After enduring weeks where it was unclear whether I would survive, I’m walking out of the hospital on my own power, free from Ebola. This blessing is in no small measure a result of the world class care I received at the Nebraska Medical Center,” Mukpo said in a statement.

Mukpo will also give exclusive interviews to .NBC News

“Obviously, he has done well and we are very happy about it,” said Dr. Angela Hewlett, who helped lead his treatment. “We are not sure what made him better. We are just glad he’s better.”

Mukpo, who arrived at the hospital Oct. 6, got the supportive care that’s become standard in the United States — regular testing and replacement of compounds called electrolytes, which get flushed out of the body during the severe vomiting and diarrhea that mark the mid-stages of Ebola disease. The treatment is similar to what works for cholera.

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