When 26-year-old nurse Nina Pham contracted the Ebola virus from her patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, it seemed like all of America entered a state of panic. After all, Pham was the very first person to ever contract the deadly virus on U.S. soil.
But now it seems those same panicked individuals are letting out a sigh of relief. The brave Texas nurse is officially virus-free.
On Friday morning, the National Institutes of Health confirmed that Pham no longer tested positive for Ebola. Pham was given multiples tests to make sure she was virus-free before being discharged from the hospital. After five consecutive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which tested negative for Ebola, doctors were confident that she was no longer infectious.
“I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today,” Pham told reporters in front of the National Institutes of Health facility. “Throughout this ordeal, I have put my faith in God and my medical team.”
If any more proof is needed to show that Pham is indeed virus-free, President Barack Obama met Pham in the Oval Office to give her a big hug.
“I think hope just went up a notch today by the fact that we are all here to celebrate the recovery of a patient who was afflicted with a disease that is obviously very serious,” said National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins.
“Although I no longer have Ebola, I know that it may be awhile before I have my strength back,” Pham said. “So with gratitude and respect for everyone’s concern, I ask for my privacy and for my family’s privacy to be respected as I return to Texas and try to get back to a normal life and reunite with my dog, Bentley.”
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