The NBC News freelance cameraman who contracted Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Liberia and was transferred to Nebraska Medical Center for treatment has shown “very modest improvement”, according to medical officials at Nebraska.

This digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts a number of filamentous Ebola virus particles (red) that had budded from the surface of a VERO cell (blue-gray) of the African green monkey kidney epithelial cell line./NIAID
This digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts a number of filamentous Ebola virus particles (red) that had budded from the surface of a VERO cell (blue-gray) of the African green monkey kidney epithelial cell line./NIAID

The second patient to be treated for the virus at The Nebraska Medical Center, Ashoka Mukpo’s condition is slightly improving, Phil Smith, M.D., medical director of the Biocontainment Unit at The Nebraska Medical Center said. “He’s been taking in some fluids and drinking Gatorade. But everyone needs to be reminded that this is still a very serious illness we’re dealing with and no one has a lot of experience treating it.”

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Dr. Mitchell Levy, Mukpo’s father. “We definitely aren’t out of the woods, but it’s nice to see even a small amount of improvement. We’re incredibly grateful to the staff treating him at The Nebraska Medical Center.”

Mr. Mukpo is receiving Brincidofovir, an experimental antiviral medication that has been used in treating other viruses. He also received a blood transfusion from Dr. Kent Brantly, and is receiving other supportive care.

The first patient to be treated for the Ebola virus here, Dr. Rick Sacra, was released after nearly three weeks of treatment at the end of September.