PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — An American video journalist who had Ebola says he felt as if his body was "at war" with Ebola.

Ashoka Mukpo contracted the virus after working in Liberia for a month as a freelance cameraman for NBC and other media outlets.

He told the Associated Press about the harrowing experiences he endured throughout his diagnosis, treatment and recovery on Saturday at his home in Rhode Island, two days after an emergency room physician who worked in Guinea was hospitalized with Ebola in New York City.

The 33-year-old described taking his temperature, seeing it read 101.3, and feeling "pure fear."

Mukpo says being diagnosed with Ebola forced him to confront the possibility of his own death, and made him understand the terror and isolation so many West Africans are going through.