Washington, Oct 22 (IANS): An American photographer, who contracted Ebola in Liberia, has been declared free of the virus.

A blood test, confirmed by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), revealed that 33-year-old Ashoka Mukpo no longer has the deadly virus in his body, Xinhua reported.

Mukpo will be discharged from the hospital later Wednesday.

"Recovering from Ebola is a truly humbling feeling," Mukpo said in a statement, adding that "too many are not as fortunate and lucky as I've been. I'm very happy to be alive".

Mukpo was flown from Liberia to the Nebraska Medical Center Oct 6.

He is the second patient to be successfully treated for Ebola at the hospital, and the fifth in the US to fully recover.

All the five patients had contracted the virus in West Africa and were then brought back for treatment.

Only Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola on US soil, died of the virus.

Two nurses who were infected while caring for Duncan are still being treated.

The US National Institutes of Health Tuesday said the clinical status of Nina Pham, one of the two nurses infected, has been upgraded from fair to good.