NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola - now in US for treatment - free of Ebola - discharged

[Pathfinder]

NBC News Freelancer in Africa Diagnosed with Ebola

An American freelance cameraman working for NBC News in Liberia has tested positive for Ebola and will be flown back to the United States for treatment.

The infected freelancer was hired Tuesday to be a second cameraman for NBC News Chief Medical Editor and Correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman. Snyderman is with three other NBC News employees on assignment in Monrovia, reporting on the Ebola outbreak.

The freelancer came down with symptoms on Wednesday, feeling tired and achy. As part of a routine temperature check, he discovered he was running a slight fever. He immediately quarantined himself and sought medical advice. On Thursday morning, the 33 year-old American went to a Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) treatment center to be tested for the virus. The positive result came back just under 12 hours later.

The cameraman, who also is a writer, is the fourth American to have contracted Ebola in Liberia. He has been working in Liberia on various projects for the past three years. NBC News is withholding the cameraman?s name at the request of his family.

?We are doing everything we can to get him the best care possible. He will be flown back to the United States for treatment at a medical center that is equipped to handle Ebola patients,? NBC News President Deborah Turness said in a note to staff.
...
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/eb...ews-freelancer-africa-diagnosed-ebola-n217271

 

[Gemineye]

CNN report: NBC cameraman infected with Ebolaaa in west Africa

CNN report: NBC cameraman infected with Ebolaaa in west Africa

As reported on Anderson Cooper 360. No other details at this time.

 

[Gemineye]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Read Pathfinder's post. It does have more information.

 

[MHSC]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

AMERICAN JOURNALIST IN LIBERIA TESTS POSITIVE FOR EBOLA
ABCNews

CARIELLE DOE
http://abc7news.com/news/american-journalist-in-liberia-tests-positive-for-ebola/334727/

Thursday, October 02, 2014
An American freelance journalist working in Monrovia, Liberia, has tested positive for Ebola, according to NBC News, which hired him as a cameraman earlier this week.

He came down with symptoms on Wednesday, NBC News reported. During a routine examination, the 33-year-old cameraman learned that he had a fever and quarantined himself afterwards.

Earlier today, he went to the Medecins Sans Frontieres treatment center, where he tested positive for the virus. He'll be flown back to the U.S. for treatment, NBC reported.

"We are doing everything we can to get him the best care possible," NBC News President Deborah Turness said in a note to staff. "The rest of the crew, including Dr. Nancy [Snyderman], are being closely monitored and show no symptoms or warning signs. However, in an abundance of caution, we will fly them back on a private charter flight and then they will place themselves under quarantine in the United States for 21 days - which is at the most conservative end of the spectrum of medical guidance."

more at above link...

 

[JimO]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

I presume that Tuesday was when NBC hired him, not his first assignment in the hot zone. At least I hope so.

 

[Dani]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

I presume that Tuesday was when NBC hired him, not his first assignment in the hot zone. At least I hope so.

I think the article said he'd been there three years. Still, this is the most concerning of the American cases. He's not a HCW, and almost certainly knows the germ theory of disease and how to prevent an infection. I presume he doesn't engage in some of the more dangerous Liberian funerary practices.

I'd really like to know how he acquired Ebola.

 

[Graupel]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

I'd really like to know how he acquired Ebola.

Yes, it's a staggering development. It's hard to imagine any scenario where a cameraman would have had anything in the way of direct or high-risk exposures. The PPE I've seen in several taped segments looked pretty reasonable.

Community transmission at a guesthouse? Droplets in a hospital?

 

[alforddm]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

I think the article said he'd been there three years. Still, this is the most concerning of the American cases. He's not a HCW, and almost certainly knows the germ theory of disease and how to prevent an infection. I presume he doesn't engage in some of the more dangerous Liberian funerary practices.

I'd really like to know how he acquired Ebola.

Ditto. I was wondering the same thing.

 

[hawkeye]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

I hope he fully recovers. I'm interested to see which treatment facility he goes to. I assume there is still no zmapp available?

 

[Dani]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Yes, it's a staggering development. It's hard to imagine any scenario where a cameraman would have had anything in the way of direct or high-risk exposures. The PPE I've seen in several taped segments looked pretty reasonable.

Community transmission at a guesthouse? Droplets in a hospital?

Maybe we don't know as much as we think we know about Ebola. That's what's been bugging me all summer. Either people are infectious before they get symptoms or fomite (surface) transfer is more likely than the CDC is letting on. But the " direct contact with bodily fluids" meme is getting a bit threadbare.

 

[Dani]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

I hope he fully recovers. I'm interested to see which treatment facility he goes to. I assume there is still no zmapp available?

Possibly Montana. Believe it or not, there is a level 4 lab there and a treatment unit in Missoula to go with it. They haven't had any Ebola cases to care for, yet.

 

[MHSC]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Possibly Montana. Believe it or not, there is a level 4 lab there and a treatment unit in Missoula to go with it. They haven't had any Ebola cases to care for, yet.

I had forgotten about that, thanks for sharing.

 

[Graupel]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Maybe we don't know as much as we think we know about Ebola. That's what's been bugging me all summer. Either people are infectious before they get symptoms or fomite (surface) transfer is more likely than the CDC is letting on. But the " direct contact with bodily fluids" meme is getting a bit threadbare.

Yes, exactly what I've been thinking. For many of the HCW it was fobbed off as 'community transmission' or PPE removal. I can imagine that has happened, but so many times? There's clearly a lot we don't understand- just I hope that that practical education doesn't come at too staggering a cost....

 

[Dani]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

I had forgotten about that, thanks for sharing.

It was in the Billings (MT) Gazette this morning.

 

[Graupel]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Interesting they are moving away from major metropolitan areas.... entirely sensible.

 

[AnnaLisa]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Is it just THAT prevalent in the area, that one could get it if they are not wearing PPE? Could there be that much virus in the environment on fomites? Is it just that crowded that it is impossible to not touch others? Given this news and the rate of infection in Sierra Leone, it is concerning. I wish we had a better handle on incubation period and what kind of contact can cause infection. Until we know, I wish that the message to the public would be, that there are things about Ebola that we do not know. I just think to maintain credibility agencies need to be as honest as possible and as consistent in approach as possible.

 

[Dani]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Interesting they are moving away from major metropolitan areas.... entirely sensible.

I don't know with any certainty that they intend to treat a case there, but it makes sense. The Rocky Mountain Lab is in Hamilton, MT. and the unit in Missoula exists to support that lab in case of an infection in personnel. It's reasonable that they take care of an Ebola patient under slightly more controlled conditions than what might happen if there were a lab accident. When I saw it mentioned in the paper today, I thought perhaps it was perhaps because they were gearing up to actually use the unit. That is why they sent Dr. Sacra to Nebraska- to make sure that their facility was also up to speed.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Article about Montana that supports level 3 and 4 materials for vaccine development, etc.:

(snipped)

.....Missoula’s St. Patrick Hospital is one of four medical facilities in the United States authorized to handle patients with active Ebola infections. The viral hemorrhagic fever has killed more than 3,000 people in the current West African epidemic. There is no clinically proven vaccine or treatment for the disease, although several therapies are showing promise. Victims who receive common life-support measures in time have upward of an 80 percent chance of survival.

Some of those treatments are being developed at the federal Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, which is part of the reason that St. Patrick Hospital opened its Sensitive Care and Isolation Unit in 2007. The Hamilton facility routinely handles Level 3 and Level 4 materials as it explores new vaccines and treatments for diseases like hemorrhagic fevers and plague.

The Missoula hospital has a three-room wing of its intensive care unit already equipped for handling Level 4 infectious disease patients —.....


Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...a19-54fd-a7ed-78a9ee62c2f1.html#ixzz3F2kLOXna

.

 

[MHSC]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Article about Montana that supports level 3 and 4 materials for vaccine development, etc.:

(snipped)

.....Missoula?s St. Patrick Hospital is one of four medical facilities in the United States authorized to handle patients with active Ebola infections

The other U.S. sites cleared for Ebola treatment are in Bethesda, Maryland; Atlanta; and Omaha, Nebraska.



This from the CDC in this article and yesterday in his news conference.
Frieden has said that any hospital with the ability to isolate patients can treat Ebola patients
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/01/hospital-ebola-patient/16527143/

 

[JJackson]

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

Re: NBC News freelancer in Africa diagnosed with Ebola

I am not happy with the symptom onset/infectiousness line. They are gradual and come on together but are not joined at the hip. Bodily fluids of concern are blood, feces, vomit and sweat. The popular targets are dendritic cells and macrophages in early infection which matches the fluids but which builds viral load first and fastest? I would be grateful if anyone has a link to any papers covering rates of viral load over time if these have been done in an animal model.
Following on from the discussion on 'what are we missing' in the significant routes of transmission. What effect is the sheer scale of the outbreak having. Routes of transmission that were insignificant may now not be. If you are in a very badly infected area you may be getting lots of low risk contacts from low viral load sources to a point it becomes a significant factor in the overall transmission rate. We are in new territory and the phase one trials Ebola performed on humans previously may not have fully forewarned us now we have jumped straight to phase 3.