Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly has again donated blood to help treat someone fighting the virus — this time a nurse who is the first person to contract the disease within the United States, a spokesman for Samaritan’s Purse told NBC News Monday. Brantly, who still works for the aid group, traveled to Dallas on Sunday to make the donation for Nina Pham, a nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who helped to treat a Liberian man who died there last week, said Jeremy Blume, a spokesperson for Samaritan's Purse.
A family spokesman had reported earlier that Pham’s mother said her daughter was receiving a transfusion from a former Ebola patient. Health officials are trying to determine how Pham was infected; her role in treating the man who died in Dallas, Thomas Eric Duncan, has not been released. The family spokesman said Pham’s mother reported that her daughter is doing well and feels she is getting good treatment. She was reported in stable condition on Monday. Experts hope the antibodies in Brantly's blood will kick-start Pham's immune response to Ebola.
Brantly, who got the disease in July while treating patients in Liberia for Samaritan's Purse, also has given blood to treat at least two other people: Dr. Rick Sacra, an American who also got the virus in Liberia, and NBC News freelance camera operator Ashoka Mukpo, who was infected while covering the outbreak in West Africa. Sacra was treated at The Nebraska Medical Center, where Mukpo is currently hospitalized.
NBC News' Chief Medical Editor Nancy Snyderman acknowledged Monday that she and her newsgathering team have been placed on mandatory quarantine after voluntary confinement in place since a cameraman working with them contracted Ebola in West Africa.
"While under voluntary quarantine guidelines, which called for our team to avoid public contact for 21 days, members of our group violated those guidelines and understand that our quarantine is now mandatory until 21 days have passed," Snyderman said in a statement. "We remain healthy and our temperatures are normal. As a health professional I know that we have no symptoms and pose no risk to the public, but I am deeply sorry for the concerns this episode caused. We are thrilled that Ashoka is getting better and our thoughts continue to be with the thousands affected by Ebola whose stories we all went to cover."
Snyderman and her crew have been under confinement since cameraman Ashoka Mukpo contracted Ebola earlier this month. Mukpo has been receiving treatment at a Nebraska hospital. His family said Saturday that he was "steadily improving" and had been symptom-free.
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