Nina Pham, the first American nurse to be diagnosed with Ebola, has been declared free of the deadly virus.
Pham, 26, was diagnosed Oct. 12 after treating dying patient Thomas Eric Duncan, according to National Institute of Health officials Friday.
Pham was flown into the NIH Special Clinical Studies Unit in Maryland on Oct. 16, where she was treated for five days before her status was upgraded from “fair” to “good.”
“We fully intend to to have this patient walk out of this hospital,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said upon Pham’s arrival to Maryland.
On Friday, she did just that — greeted by applause by staff.
Pham, who was known for being a dedicated and meticulous nurse, was diagnosed after treating Duncan, the Dallas patient who was the first in the United States to die of the virus.
Duncan originally went to Dallas’ Presbyterian Hospital on Sept. 24 with symptoms consistent with Ebola, telling a nurse he had returned from Africa. After being sent home with a viral infection, he returned on Sept. 28 to the emergency room before being officially diagnosed a few days later.
He died from Ebola on Oct. 8, which prompted the Dallas hospital to apologize for their lack of preparedness and handling of Duncan’s case.
It was then revealed that Pham, along with another nurse who had cared for Duncan, had contracted Ebola.
Another person, this time a New York doctor who had been treating Ebola patients in West Africa while working with Doctors without Borders, was diagnosed for the virus Thursday night.
Though President Obama has continually reassured the country that the U.S. is not experiencing an Ebola “outbreak” or “epidemic,” Americans now consider Ebola a top issue facing the country, a new Gallup poll revealed Tuesday.
The nation’s Ebola response effort is being led by newly appointed Ebola czar, Ron Klain, a former chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden.
