Ebola Outbreak 2014 News Update, Watchlist & Death Toll: Spanish Nurse Aide, Nebraska Cameraman Cleared; Texas Nurses in 'Good Condition'
The only Ebola patient confined in Nebraska Medical Center, Ashoka Mukpo, has been declared free from the virus on Tuesday. The freelance cameraman tweeted, "Recovering from Ebola is a truly humbling feeling. Too many are not as fortunate and lucky as I've been. I'm very happy to be alive."
Mukpo tested positive while covering a report for NBC News in Liberia. CNN wrote that the 33-year-old media man belonged to a team working with the network's medical correspondent, Dr. Nancy Snyderman.
The cameraman expressed in another tweet how he felt about coming to the country, "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."
44-year-old Spanish nursing aide, María Teresa Romero Ramos, has also been cleared of Ebola on Tuesday. Confined in Carlos III Hospital, she is noted as the first person to contract Ebola outside Africa. She took care of a missionary coming from West Africa, harboring the disease.
Ramos was treated with blood plasma acquired from Ebola survivors and experimental drugs, noted The New York Times. She was announced Ebola-free after a series of tests which showed negative results.
Meanwhile, Texas nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, are recovering well. According to Time, Pham and Vinson were reported by the National Institutes of Health to transition from "fair" to "good" condition. NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci mentioned that Pham has received plasma from survivor, Dr. Kent Brantly.
James Kithcart, VInson's family friend, said via New York Daily News that "Amber is fine. She's in the hospital in Atlanta, and her body is processing food." Vinson is confined in Emory University Hospital, which has cured three Ebola patients already.
To date, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has restricted plane passengers coming from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea. In a report by Reuters, New York's John F. Kennedy, New Jersey's Newark, Washington Dulles, Atlanta and Chicago's O'Hare international airports will have America-bound passengers tested for Ebola indicators such as temperature, among others.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced, "If not already handled by the airlines, the few impacted travelers should contact the airlines for rebooking, as needed."
Just recently, the World Health Organization acquired 800 vials of Canada's Ebola vaccine, set for clinical trial at the end of October or early November.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has improved its guidelines for healthcare workers handling Ebola. In addition, the agency has estimated that if not controlled by January, Ebola may affect about 1.4 million people, wrote USA Today.