Dallas nurse declared Ebola-free

Nina Pham, the Dallas nurse who contracted Ebola while treating the only U.S. patient to die of the deadly virus, is cured and was released today from the Maryland hospital where she was being treated.

“I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today,” Pham said during a press conference this morning. “First of all, I would like to thank God, my family and friends. Throughout this ordeal, I put my trust in God and my medical team.”

Pham, 26, was diagnosed with Ebola shortly after Thomas Eric Duncan died on Oct. 8. She was flown from Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., for treatment. As part of her care, Pham received plasma from missionary doctor Kent Brantly, the first American diagnosed with Ebola while working in Liberia.

Pham especially thanked Brantly along with her medical team. Officials at NIH said she did not receive any experimental drugs during her treatment.

“I believe in the power of prayer,” said Pham, who read from a statement but did not take any questions. “I know so many people all over the world who have prayed for me. I don’t know how I could ever thank you all. … I join you in prayer for the recovery of others.”

Amber Vinson, another nurse who treated Duncan and caught the disease, may also soon be released from Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital. On Tuesday, Vinson’s family said doctors could no longer detect the virus in her blood.

News of Pham’s recovery comes as New York City health officials have quarantined three people who had contact with Dr. Craig Spencer, a physician who contracted the Ebola virus on a recent trip to Guinea in West Africa. Spencer traveled home from Guinea, where he was working with aid group Doctors Without Borders between Oct. 14 and Oct. 17.

On Thursday, he developed gastrointestinal symptoms and a fever of 100.3. He was checking his temperature twice daily as a precaution. When he developed symptoms, he was taken to Bellevue Hospital by a specially trained crew.

New Yorkers have expressed varying levels of fear about an Ebola outbreak after learning Spencer was out and about in the city before his hospitalization. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo assured residents they were not at risk unless they had contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids. Cuomo added that New York City was better prepared for the arrival of an Ebola patient than Dallas was last month.

“We are as ready as one could be for this circumstance,” Cuomo said. “What happened in Dallas was unfortunately the exact opposite. We had the advantage of learning from the Dallas experience.”

Still, some are calling for the government to do more, including initiating mandatory 21-day quarantines for travelers arriving in the United States after being exposed to Ebola.

SIM, a Christian group that has sent doctors to the Ebola front in West Africa, has a location where it can quarantine workers for 21 days after they come home. Other mission agencies are quarantining volunteers and staff outside the United States before they allow them to return.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) requires its workers to follow a protocol that includes staying within four hours of a hospital that has isolation capabilities. The group defended its practices in a statement Thursday: “Until today, out of more than 700 expatriate staff deployed so far to West Africa, no MSF staff person has developed confirmed Ebola symptoms after returning to their home country.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.