Ebola Patient From Providence Continues To Improve

OMAHA, Neb. (CBS) -- The condition of a Providence, Rhode Island journalist infected with Ebola while on assignment in West Africa continues to improve, doctors said Saturday.

Ashoka Mukpo was brought to Nebraska Medical Center on Oct. 6 after he contracted the deadly virus in Liberia, where he was working as an NBC News cameraman.

"Mr. Mukpo is still very weak, but his condition has improved since yesterday," said Dr. Phil Smith, medical director of the hospital's biocontainment unit, in a statement. "He's eating some solid food now, so we're still headed in the right direction."

But doctors cautioned that the Providence native is not in the clear yet.

"He is still extremely weak, and the severity and unknown aspects of the disease we're dealing with always have to be kept in mind," Smith said.

Mukpo is the second Ebola patient to be treated in Nebraska; Holden Dr. Rick Sacra was declared Ebola-free last month after receiving care in the same facility.

Mukpo has been administered the experimental drug Brincidofovir and received a blood transfusion from Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly. Medical resources in the United States, which often aren't readily available in West Africa, are an important factor in helping Ebola patients recover, the hospital said.

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