An American cameraman working in Liberia has been infected with Ebola days after the first case of the deadly disease was diagnosed on US soil.
The man was working for NBC News on a freelance basis, raising concerns among journalists covering the outbreak in West Africa.
He is the fifth US citizen to have caught the disease – three have recovered and a doctor who contracted the virus in Sierra Leone is still receiving treatment.
The 33-year-old, who has worked in Liberia for three years, most recently covering the Ebola outbreak for US media outlets, will be flown back to the United States for treatment, NBC said.
He was working with a team of four other journalists in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, which has been subject to crackdowns by authorities trying to stop the spread of the disease.
His colleagues are not showing any symptoms but are also returning to the US to be quarantined as a precaution.
A spokesperson for NBC News said the cameraman came down with symptoms of Ebola, which are shared with many viruses, on Wednesday, feeling tired and achy.
As part of a routine temperature check, he discovered he was running a slight fever and immediately quarantined himself and sought medical advice.
After visiting a treatment centre on Thursday, he tested positive hours later.
NBC’s chief medical editor Dr Nancy Snyderman – who he was working with – said he was in “good spirits”.
“The good news is this young man, our colleague, was admitted very, very early,” she told MSNBC.
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Dr Snyderman said journalists in Liberia take their temperatures regularly to check for fever and take precautions including avoiding handshakes and hugs and washing their hands and feet with diluted bleach to lower the chances of catching the disease.
“Obviously zero risk means never coming to Liberia,” she added.
Ebola is spread by contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, whether directly or through soiled clothing or items they have touched.
In a note to staff, Deborah Turness, President of NBC News, said the broadcaster was doing everything it could to get him the best care possible.
“We are also taking all possible measures to protect our employees and the general public,” she added.
The cameraman’s father said doctors were “optimistic” about his prognosis.
He added that his son, who also is a writer, has been involved with human rights work in West Africa in recent years.
“When the Ebola outbreak occurred he felt compelled to return to Liberia to help shed light on how the crisis was being handled socially and politically,” he said.
In pictures: Ebola virus
In pictures: Ebola virus
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A health worker from Sierra Leone's Red Cross Society Burial Team 7 carries the corpse of a child in Freetown
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A health workers from the Sierra Leone's Red Cross Society Burial Team 7 is sprayed with desinfectant after removing a corpse from a house in Freetown
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Health workers from Sierra Leone's Red Cross Society Burial Team 7 prepare to remove a body from a house in Freetown
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Health workers from the Sierra Leone's Red Cross Society Burial Team 7 place a body in a grave at King Tom cemetary in Freetown
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Mustapha Rogers of the Red Cross talks as health workers from the Sierra Leone's Red Cross Society Burial Team 7 remove a corpse from a house in Freetown
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A citizen from Mali arrives at a hospital in Murcia city, south-eastern Spain. The protocol for a possible case of Ebola has been activated as the man, who arrived from Mali to Jumilla town in Murcia province five days ago, presents clinical symptoms of high fever and vomiting
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Kenyan medical workers show how to handle an infected Ebola patient on a portable negative pressure bed at the Kenyatta national hospital in Nairobi
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A health worker sprays disinfectant onto a college in Monrovia, Liberia
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A burial team in protective gear bury the body of a woman suspected to have died from Ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia
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Healthcare workers in protective gear work at an Ebola treatment center in the west of Freetown, Sierra Leone
AP Photo/Michael Duff
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A healthcare worker in protective gear is sprayed with disinfectant after working in an Ebola treatment center in the west of Freetown, Sierra Leone
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A member of the NGO U Fondation leaves a house after visiting quarantined family members suffering from the Ebola virus in Monrovia
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An Ebola sign placed infront of a home in West Point slum area of Monrovia, Liberia
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A Liberian man carries his sick brother suspected of having Ebola after being delayed admission to the Island Clinic Ebola Treatment Unit due to a lack of beds at the clinic on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia
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Health workers remove the body a woman who died from the Ebola virus in the Aberdeen district of Freetown, Sierra Leone
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A health worker fixes another health worker's protective suit in the Aberdeen district of Freetown, Sierra Leone
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Health workers spray themselves with chlorine disinfectants after removing the body a woman who died of Ebola virus in the Aberdeen district of Freetown, Sierra Leone
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A woman crawls towards the body of her sister as Ebola burial team members take her sister Mekie Nagbe (28) for cremation in Monrovia, Liberia
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Sophia Doe sits with her grandchildren Beauty Mandi, 9 months (L) and Arthuneh Qunoh, 9, (R), while watching the arrival an Ebola burial team to take away the body of her daughter Mekie Nagbe, 28, for cremation in Monrovia, Liberia
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Varney Jonson (46) grieves as an Ebola burial team takes away the body of his wife Nama Fambule for cremation in Monrovia, Liberia
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Family members grieve as Ebola burial team members prepare to remove the body of Nama Fambule for cremation in Monrovia, Liberia
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A Liberian burial squad carry the body of an Ebola victim in Marshall, Margini county, Liberia
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An Ebola burial team dresses in protective clothing before collecting the body of a woman (54) from her home in the New Kru Town suburb of Monrovia, Liberia
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An Ebola burial team carries the body of a woman (54) through the New Kru Town suburb of Monrovia, Liberia
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An Ebola burial team dresses in protective clothing before collecting the body of a woman (54) from her home in the New Kru Town suburb of Monrovia, Liberia
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Health workers in protective gear carry the body of a woman suspected to have died from Ebola virus, from a house in New Kru Town at the outskirt of Monrovia, Liberia
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Volunteers in protective suit bury the body of a person who died from Ebola in Waterloo, some 30 kilometers southeast of Freetown
FLORIAN PLAUCHEUR/AFP/Getty Images
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Nowa Paye (9) is taken to an ambulance after showing signs of the Ebola infection in the village of Freeman Reserve, about 30 miles north of Monrovia, Liberia
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Medical staff members burn clothes belonging to patients suffering from Ebola, at the French medical NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Monrovia
PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images
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A medical staff member wearing a protective suit walks past the crematorium where victims of Ebola are burned in Monrovia
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A Liberian burial team wearing protective clothing loads the body of a 60-year-old Ebola victim after retrieving him from his home
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Sick women rest while hoping to enter the new Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Ebola treatment center near Monrovia, Liberia
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Hanah Siafa walks in the rain with her children Josephine, 10, and Elija, six, while waiting to enter the new Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Ebola treatment center in Monrovia, Liberia
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UNICEF health workers walk through the streets, going house to house to speak about Ebola prevention in New Kru Town, Liberia. The virus has killed more than 1,000 people in four African countries
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Local residents watch as public health advocates stage an Ebola awareness and prevention event in Monrovia, Liberia
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Public health advocates stage an Ebola awareness and prevention event in Monrovia, Liberia. The Liberian government and international groups are trying to convince residents of the danger and are urging people to wash their hands to help prevent the spread of the epidemic
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Hanah Siafa lies with her children Josephine, 10, and Elija, six, while hoping to enter the new Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Ebola treatment center
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A health worker examines patients for Ebola inside a screening tent, at the Kenema Government Hospital
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A health worker cleans his hands with chlorinated water before entering an Ebola screening tent at the Kenema Government Hospital, about 86 miles from Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown
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Aid workers and doctors transfer Miguel Pajares, a Spanish priest who was infected with the Ebola virus while working in Liberia, from a plane to an ambulance as he leaves the Torrejon de Ardoz military airbase, near Madrid, Spain
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A Liberian money exchanger washes hands between customers as a precaution to prevent infection with the deadly Ebola virus while conducting business in downtown Monrovia, Liberia
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A Liberian health worker sprays disinfectant on a drivers boots to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus at the Christian charity Samaritan Purse head offices in Monrovia, Liberia. Over 660 people have died of Ebola in West Africa in 2014 making it the world's deadliest outbreak to date according to statistics from the World Health Organisation
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A Liberian taxi driver wears protective gloves as a precaution to prevent infection with the deadly Ebola virus whilst driving in downtown Monrovia, Liberia. Many Liberians have taken to wearing gloves and washing hands after every interaction in an attempt to curb the spread of the deadly virus
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A Liberian money exchanger wears protective gloves as a precaution to prevent infection with the deadly Ebola virus while transacting business with customers in downtown Monrovia, Liberia
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A woman from Liberia takes food to a sick relative in the Ebola isolation unit at the ELWA Hospital where US doctor Kent Bradley is being quarantined having contracted the Ebola virus. Over 660 people have died of Ebola in West Africa in 2014 making it the world's deadliest outbreak to date according to statistics from the World Health Organisation
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The disease has now spread to Liberia and, for the first time, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, killing at least 672 people in 1,201 cases, according to the World Health Organisation’s latest figures
AP
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Health specialists prepare for work in an isolation ward for patients at the Medecins Sans Frontieres facility in southern Guinea
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A Liberian street vendor wears protective gloves as a precaution to prevent infection with the deadly Ebola virus while transacting business with customers in downtown Monrovia, Liberia
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A nurse from Liberia sprays preventives to disinfect the waiting area for visitors at the ELWA Hospital where a US doctor Kent Bradley is being quarantined in the hospitals isolation unit having contracted the Ebola virus, Monrovia, Liberia
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Staff of the 'Doctors without Borders' ('Medecin sans frontieres') medical aid organisation carry the body of a person killed by the virus
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A Liberia man (right) talks to a nurse (left) about the health of his relative who is in the isolation unit of the ELWA Hospital where a US doctor Kent Bradley is being quarantined having contracted the Ebola virus, Monrovia, Liberia
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A nurse from Liberia walks to spray preventives to disinfect the waiting area for visitors at the ELWA Hospital where a US doctor Kent Bradley is being quarantined in the hospitals isolation unit having contracted the Ebola virus
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Staff of the Christian charity Samaritan's Purse put on protective gear in the ELWA hospital in the Liberian capital Monrovia
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Lagos State Health Commissioner Jide Idris, speaks, during a news conference in Lagos, Nigeria. No one knows for sure just how many people Patrick Sawyer came into contact with the day he boarded a flight in Liberia, had a stopover in Ghana, changed planes in Togo, and then arrived in Nigeria, where authorities say he died days later from Ebola
AP Photo/Sunday Alamba
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Staff of the Christian charity Samaritan's Purse put on protective gear in the ELWA hospital in the Liberian capital Monrovia. An American doctor battling West Africa's Ebola epidemic has himself fallen sick with the disease in Liberia, Samaritan's Purse said
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Protective gear including boots, gloves, masks and suits, drying after being used in a treatment room in the ELWA hospital in the Liberian capital Monrovia
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A Liberian man holding a Civet being sold on a roadside as bush meat in Lofa County. Bush meat is one of the major carriers of the Ebola virus. The Liberian government and International partners have warned people to not eat it. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that a total of 888 Ebola cases including 539 deaths have been recorded in West Africa since February
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People unload protection and healthcare material at Conakry's airport, to help fight the spread of the Ebola virus and treat people who have been already infected
AFP/Getty Images
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Body of evidence: health workers transport a casket of a nun whose death resulted from an Ebola infection in Zaire in 1995
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Peter Piot in Yambuku, northern Congo (then Zaire), in 1976, where he was part of the original team to discover the Ebola virus
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A member of Doctors Without Borders helps to unload protection and healthcare materials in Guinea
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Doctors in protective gear work inside the Medecins Sans Frontieres isolation ward as Guinea faced the worst ever outbreak of the Ebola virus
Getty Images
A Liberian national visiting family in Texas recently became the first Ebola patient to be diagnosed in the US last week.
He is currently being treated for Ebola at a hospital in Dallas as authorities quarantine anyone who had contact with him before he was put into isolation.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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