DALLAS — After nearly two weeks
in isolation, Ebola patient Nina Pham walked out of a Maryland hospital
on Friday free of the deadly disease that has seized the nation’s
attention.
“She has no virus in her,” said
Dr. Tony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Health. “She is
cured of Ebola, let's get that clear.”
Fauci's boss' boss got the
message. President Barack Obama invited Pham and her family to the White
House where he gave the Ebola survivor a big hug.
Pham — one of two Texas nurses
to contract the disease while caring for the country’s first Ebola
patient — was hopeful and humble as she left the hospital Friday
morning.
“I am on my way back to recovery
even as I reflect on how many others have not been so fortunate,” Pham
said. “I do not know how I can ever thank everyone enough for their
prayers and their expressions of concerns, hope and love.”
Still, the 26-year-old acknowledged the ordeal “has been very stressful and challenging for me and my family.”“Although I no longer have Ebola, I know it may be a while before I have my strength back,” Pham said.
Pham and her colleague, Amber Vinson, were among 50 to 70 health care workers involved in the treatment of Liberian citizen Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian in Dallas from Sept. 28 to Oct. 8.
Duncan arrived in Texas from
Ebola-ravaged Liberia on Sept. 20. The disease, which kills more than
half the people it infects, has claimed the lives of more than 4,000
people in West Africa in 2014, the World Health Organization estimates.
There is no known cure.
Duncan, 42, was the first person to ever be diagnosed with Ebola in
the United States. Investigators have not determined how Pham and Vinson
specifically contracted the disease from Duncan, who died on his 10th day of intensive care
at Texas Health Presbyterian. Ebola is transmitted through bodily
fluids and secretions, including blood, mucus, feces and vomit of an ill
or deceased person.
Pham, a nurse for four years,
was the first hospital employee to become ill. She reportedly felt a
fever while at home two days after Duncan's death and drove herself to
the hospital's ER. Her Ebola was confirmed on Oct. 12. It was the first
time the deadly virus has been transmitted in the United States. Vinson
was diagnosed on Oct. 14.
Both nurses were initially treated by their employer in Dallas before
being flown last week to separate facilities with specialized units
trained in treating Ebola.Earlier this week, Vinson's family announced that the 29-year-old is in good condition and Ebola-free at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Hospital officials confirmed her recovery on Friday, but said a date for Vinson's discharge has not be determined.
Approximately 100 people in the
Dallas area — most of them health care workers who were involved in the
treatment of Duncan, Pham or Vinson — are still being monitored for
Ebola symptoms.
Pham received a plasma transfusion from Ebola-survivor Dr. Kent Brantly
while in Dallas, but Fauci said the nurse was not given experimental
drugs while at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He said he
could not pinpoint a milestone moment in her recovery.
“The only thing that we’re
really happy about is that the turning point occurred,” Fauci said. “It
is virtually impossible to say this is the thing that did it and this is
the thing that didn’t do it.”
Pham, who walked out of the hospital flanked by her mother and
sister, drew applause and laughter when she announced that she was ready
to “get back to Texas and reunite with my dog Bentley.”
Bentley, a 1-year-old year-old
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, has become somewhat of a celebrity during
Pham’s illness. He was rescued from the nurse’s apartment while it was
being decontaminated and is being monitoring for Ebola symptoms.
“I’m excited to welcome her home
and I know that Bentley will be glad to see her,” Dallas County Judge
Clay Jenkins said in a written statement. “Although Bentley remains
under quarantine united the end of the month, Nina will be able to
visit, hold and play with him tomorrow. I know that will be good for
both of them.”
The Oval Office detour before departing for Dallas was a fitting
sendoff for someone Fauci described as an “extraordinarily courageous
and lovely person.”
“She represents the nurses and
health care workers who put themselves on the line and put themselves in
risk to take care of people who are in such need,” Fauci said.
(This story was updated at 2:50 p.m. ET.)