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U.S. Journalist With Ebola Flown To Nebraska For Treatment

An ambulance transports Ashoka Mukpo, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia, to The Nebraska Medical Center's specialized isolation unit on Monday in Omaha.
Dave Weaver
/
AP
An ambulance transports Ashoka Mukpo, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia, to The Nebraska Medical Center's specialized isolation unit on Monday in Omaha.

Updated at 10:20 a.m. ET

The condition of a man infected with the Ebola virus who is undergoing treatment in Dallas is "fighting for his life," doctors say, as another patient with the disease has arrived in Nebraska to receive care.

Thomas Eric Duncan, in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, became ill after arriving from the West African country of Liberia two weeks ago.

The head of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Dr. Thomas Frieden, told CNN on Sunday that Duncan was "fighting for his life" but said he was not receiving any experimental treatments.

Reuters says:

"Frieden, who is slated to brief President Barack Obama on Monday, said doses of the experimental medicine ZMapp were 'all gone' and that the drug, produced by San Diego-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, is 'not going to be available anytime soon.'

"A second experimental drug, made by Canada's Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp, 'can be quite difficult for patients to take,' he said, adding that the doctor and the patient's family would decide whether to use the drug."

NPR's Rob Stein reports, however, that Duncan is receiving a different experimental drug, brincidofovir. The Associated Press describes it as an oral medication being tested by a North Carolina company for use against several other types of viruses.

Meanwhile, freelance photographer Ashoka Mukpo, who also contracted Ebola in Liberia, is being moved to The Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, where he will be treated inside a special isolation unit.

NBCNews reports that Mukpo, 33, departed Liberia on a specially equipped airplane and that the aircraft would make a brief refueling stop in Bangor, Maine, before landing in Omaha.

Although others, like Mukpo, have arrived in the U.S. for treatment after testing positive for Ebola, Duncan is the only patient to be diagnosed on U.S. soil.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon says that 1,600 soldiers from the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division are being deployed to Liberia beginning next week.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.
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