Many people have asked how can a cameraman with no direct contact to Ebola patients get infected with the Ebola virus. Here’s the answer from the horses mouth so-to-speak.
Those who are paying attention will note Mr Mukpo is specifically describing aerosolized exposure to the virus. We have previously explained how Bloodborne Pathogen training day #1, Rule #1, specifically warns about this risk when cleaning OPIM (Other Potentially Infectious Material) such as vomit, urine, feces, saliva and/or blood.
(Via ABC News) The American journalist with Ebola who arrived at a Nebraska hospital today believes that he may have gotten infected when he got splashed while spray-washing a vehicle where someone had died from the disease.
Ashoka Mukpo arrived at the Nebraska Medical Center this morning after being flown directly from Liberia.
“He’s strong and his symptoms are not more advanced then when he talked to us before he left which is a relief,” his father Dr. Mitchell Levy said at a news conference today. He said his son has a fever and slight nausea.
“Likely he will go into the next phase where his symptoms will be more severe,” Levy said.
Levy said that his son is “not certain” when he got the disease, but believes that he could have gotten infected by some of the spray back that came when he was using chlorine to disinfect a car.
“It was a vehicle that somebody had died in,” Levy said.
Mukpo, 33, had been hired as a freelance cameraman by the NBC News crew earlier last week before testing positive for the disease on Thursday.
“He was around the [Ebola] clinic. He was filming inside the clinic,” Levy said.
Levy and his wife, Diana Mukpo, arrived in Omaha Sunday night ahead of their son’s arrival this morning, and they said that he appears to be in good spirits.
Mukpo had spent two years in Liberia working for an NGO before returning to the United States in May. When he told his parents that he felt compelled to return in September, they tried their best to dissuade him.
“I told him I thought he was crazy,” Levy said at the press conference held at the Nebraska Medical Center.
“And I begged him from a mother’s perspective saying ‘Please don’t go.’ But there was nothing I could do. He was determined to go,” Diana Mukpo said.
Levy recalled his son’s reaction being diagnosed with Ebola.
“His first reaction was I’m sorry I put myself in this situation for you guys… But I think, of course he’s of two minds. He has some regrets, but he’s still proud of what he’s doing and I’m sure he’ll go back to doing things just like this,” Levy said. (read more)
…….Ashoka Mukpo “believes he became exposed when spray washing a vehicle”…
