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Nina Pham is Ebola free. The National Institutes of Health announced Friday morning that Pham, the first of Thomas Eric Duncan’s treatment team to be diagnosed with Ebola, has successfully fought off the disease and will able to return to Dallas later Friday.
“She has no virus in her, she feels well,” Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said. It was a “privilege to treat and get to know such a extraordinary and courageous person.”
Pham tested positive for the virus on October 12 after admitting herself to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital with a low-grade fever on October 10. She was transferred to an NIH facility in Bethesda, Maryland on October 16.
Pham, and her King Charles Spaniel Bentley, have received an outpouring of support in Dallas and around the world. A fund established to pay for Pham’s care has raised more than $90,000.
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“I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today,” Pham said at a NIH press conference. “I am so incredibly thankful to everyone involved in my care.”
Pham went on to thank Dr. Kent Brantly, the Fort Worth physician and Ebola survivor who donated plasma to Pham to aid her recovery. Pham is ready to get back to Texas and asked for privacy as she tries to resume a normal life and reunites with Bentley.
Amber Vinson, the second nurse to care for Duncan to contract Ebola, is still being treated at Emory University Hospital near Atlanta. According to her mother, she is free of Ebola, but neither Emory nor the Centers for Disease Control has confirmed that statement.
Update: 11:21 a.m. Emory has just confirmed that Vinson is Ebola-free. No discharge date has been set.
