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American Freelance Journalist Ashoka Mukpo Declared Ebola-Free

Mukpo got sick in Liberia and was treated at a Nebraska hospital, where he has recovered from the disease.
Photo by Jake Burghart

American freelance journalist Ashoka Mukpo, who contracted Ebola in Liberia in September, was declared free of the disease by doctors on Tuesday and will be allowed to return to his home in Rhode Island.

Mukpo spoke to NBC News about his experience with the virus, saying that he doesn't regret his time in Liberia, where he previously worked for more than two years before returning this summer to cover the Ebola outbreak in the country.

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"As a journalist, and as somebody who had a relationship to that country, it's not something that I will look back on and say, you know, it was the wrong decision to do," he said. "I think it's important in life to take risks for things that you believe in. But it's also important to keep yourself safe. So, it's hard to call Ebola a learning experience. But I think that I'm gonna walk away from this with some important lessons for the future."

Mukpo covered the Ebola outbreak from the center of the epidemic for VICE News, Al Jazeera, the Washington Post, and NBC News. He was working for NBC News for approximately 72 hours before he realized he was sick.

Prior to working with NBC News, the 33-year-old had worked with VICE News producer Danny Gold and cameraman Tim Freccia on The Fight Against EbolaandEbola in Town.

Mukpo fell ill in the Liberian capital of Monrovia and sought care at a clinic run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF). He was briefly treated at that clinic before being flown back to the US and was admitted to Nebraska Medical Center on October 6, NBC reported.

"There's definitely some physical effects of this that I think are going to last a while. But I can feel my strength coming back every day," Mukpo said on Wednesday. "And there was a period of time that I was quite sick. And, you know, I was laying in a hospital bed and had no strength. Had various pains. And — and just all kinds of fun stuff going on in my body."

Photo by VICE NewsPhoto by Tim Freccia

For treatment, Mukpo was given the antiviral drug Brincidofovir and received blood from Dr. Kent Brantly, the first American treated in the US after contracting Ebola, according to NBC News. Brantly was treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and recovered.

"For me to kind of know that I got sick, and then was so fortunate to receive the kind of care that I got, when so many people have nothing even approximating slightly that kind of care — you know, it's a heavy feeling. I don't know if 'guilt' is the right word. But it — it just feels like something isn't right about that," Mukpo said.

VICE News featured some of Mukpo's work from the ground in Liberia, with a recent report describing the situation at treatment centers in Monrovia where sick individuals were being turned away. In an earlier piece, he explored the confusion and anxiety grasping the West African nation as Ebola arrived in the country.