One of the Dallas nurses who contracted the Ebola virus while treating Thomas Eric Duncan was released from a hospital today after being declared Ebola-free. Duncan succumbed to the virus earlier this month.
The Associated Press reports that 26-year-old Nina Pham was released from the National Institutes of Health's hospital in Bethesda, Md. today. Pham was transferred there from Dallas' Texas Presbyterian Hospital last week. Pham, who has been cleared to return to Texas, expressed gratitude to all of the doctors who treated her:
She thanked her health care team in Dallas and at the NIH and singled out fellow Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly, who recovered after becoming infected in Liberia, for donating plasma containing Ebola-fighting antibodies as part of her care.
NIH infectious disease chief Dr. Anthony Fauci said that five consecutive tests revealed no traces of the virus in Pham's system. "She is cured of Ebola, let's get that clear," Fauci said, according to the Associated Press.
Pham met with President Obama prior to her return to Texas.
Ebola survivor Nina Pham gets a hug from President Obama (Photo: Saul Loeb/Getty Images) pic.twitter.com/JEKwVc7NfU
— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) October 24, 2014Meanwhile, Amber Vinson, the other nurse who contracted Ebola while treating Duncan, is said to be "making good progress" at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital. On Wednesday, her family announced that tests were unable to detect the virus in her blood.
[via Associated Press and Yahoo! News]
