Both US nurses who contracted Ebola while caring for a patient from Liberia have recovered from the potentially deadly disease, the hospitals that treated them said Friday.
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH), located near Washington DC, held a news conference to celebrate the recovery of the first nurse diagnosed at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The nurse got the virus after providing care for Thomas Eric Duncan, who died Oct 8.
"Our patient, Nina Pham, is free of Ebola virus," Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the NIH, told reporters, citing five consecutive negative PCR tests that determine if a patient has the virus.
"She has no virus in her. She feels well ...She looks extraordinarily well," Fauci said, adding that the NIH did not administer to Pham, who was transferred to the NIH's clinical center for treatment on Oct. 16, any experimental drug.
"We provided her with supportive care," he said. "One of the most important things in bringing back an Ebola patient to health is to give them the kind of medical general support to allow their own body to then be able to fight off the virus and essentially get rid of the virus."
Pham, who was present at the conference with her mother and sister, read a brief statement and did not answer questions.
"I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today," Pham said. "I am on my way back to recovery even as I reflect on how many others have not been so fortunate."
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Pham thanked everyone involved in her care, especially Kent Brantly, who donated plasma to her.
Brantly was the first of the five American patients who contracted the virus in West Africa and were later brought home for treatment. All five patients have successfully recovered.
The nurse also asked for privacy as she prepared to return to Texas, where she said she is looking forward to trying to "get back to a normal life" and reuniting with her dog, Bentley.
The White House said in a statement that President Barack Obama will meet with Pham Friday afternoon.
About an hour later, Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where Pham's colleague Amber Vinson, the second of two nurses diagnosed with the disease, has been undergoing treatment since Oct. 15, released a statement, saying Vinson "is making progress in her treatment for Ebola virus infection".
"Tests no longer detect the virus in her blood. She remains within Emory's Serious Communicable Diseases Unit for continued supportive care. We do not have a discharge date at this time," the hospital said.
The good news for the nurses came just a day after Craig Spencer, a physician who had treated Ebola patients in Guinea while working for Doctors Without Borders, was diagnosed with the virus in New York City.
US hospitals have treated a total of nine cases of Ebola, only the Liberian, Duncan, died of the virus.