The second Ebola patient to be treated at The Nebraska Medical Center, Ashoka Mukpo, is scheduled to receive the same convalescent serum the first patient here did a few weeks ago. And the serum is coming from the same donor – Dr. Kent Brantly.
Image/Samaritan’s Purse
In an amazing stroke of luck, Dr. Brantly was travelling in the area when called upon to donate his blood. Brantly received a call from Dr. Angela Hewlett on October 7. Brantly was driving through Kansas City, MO at the time and stopped to donate. His blood was flown to Omaha and was scheduled to be given to Mukpo Wednesday.
“It’s not a likely scenario that he would again have the same blood type,” said Angela Hewlett, M.D., associate medical director of the Biocontainment Unit at The Nebraska Medical Center. “We are incredibly grateful that Dr. Brantly would take the time to do this, not once, but twice.”
In addition, Mukpo began treatment with the experimental antiviral drug, Brincidofovir Tuesday. Click HERE for more info on Brincidofovir.
Last month, Dr. Richard Sacra also received a blood transfusion from Dr. Brantly. Dr. Sacra also received an experimental drug called TKM Ebola, along with supportive care. It’s still not known if it was the transfusion, the experimental drug, the supportive care or a combination of all three that helped Dr. Sacra recover.
