26th October, 2014
Dallas nurse Nina Pham, who became the first person to contract Ebola on US soil, is now free of the deadly virus and has been discharged from a special facility at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, in the US state of Maryland.
In a news conference on 24th October outside the facility, she thanked her family, God, and her medical team, and said she is looking forward to being reunited with her pet dog.
“I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today,” she said. “Throughout this ordeal, I have put my faith in God and my medical team.”
She also thanked Dr Kent Brantly, the American Christian physician with Samaritan”s Purse, who also survived Ebola, for donating his plasma to her while she was sick.
“The nation saw a cheerful and composed Pham, dressed in a bright turquoise top and matching necklace, when she strode to a bank of microphones moments after Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said she was free of the virus,” said CNN.
Later, President Barack Obama met Pham in the Oval Office and gave her a big hug.
Pham, 26, is one of two nurses who contracted the Ebola virus while caring for Liberian Thomas Duncan in Dallas.
The news came one day after a doctor returning from Guinea tested positive for Ebola in New York City.
Meanwhile, CBN News’ George Thomas has now revealed that he has placed himself in a 21-Day Ebola Quarantine after reporting from Liberia.
On his Facebook page, Thomas said, “I am 99.99 per cent sure I’m Ebola-free but out of an abundance of caution for others, I’ve checked into an Ebola quarantine apartment in an undisclosed foreign location. Not sure how this all works, but I’m going to miss my family.”
At least 4,800 people have already died from the virus – and at least 9,900 cases have been recorded. But the World Health Organization (WHO) says the true numbers may be three times higher.
– DAN WOODING, ASSIST News Service
