A U.S. nurse diagnosed with Ebola after caring for a Liberian patient has been found virus-free and has been discharged from the National Institutes of Health in suburban Washington.
Nina Pham, a nurse at a Dallas, Texas, hospital that treated the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, told reporters and supporters Friday she is grateful for her recovery. She was flown in last week for treatment at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland.
She added that she is mindful of others who are still struggling with the illness, particularly another Dallas nurse, Amber Vinson, who was also infected after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
"Although I no longer have Ebola, I know it may be a while before I get my strength back," said Pham. She asked for privacy as she recovered further. She planned to head back to Dallas to reunite with her family and her dog Bentley.
Pham visited Friday with President Barack Obama, who shook her hand.
"She is cured of Ebola. Let’s get that clear," Dr. Anthony Fauci, who directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday.
Fauci said the 26-year-old was not given any experimental drugs while at NIH. It’s unclear why one Ebola patient recovers and another does not, he said, noting Pham’s youth and previous good health may have helped her beat the virus.
Pham had gotten a transfusion of blood plasma from Ebola survivor Kent Brantly, an American physician who had contracted the virus while treating patients in Liberia.
WHO anticipates vaccine
An official with the World Health Organization predicts hundreds of thousands of Ebola vaccine doses will be ready by June.
Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director-general, told reporters Friday that two leading vaccine candidates are already in clinical trials and five more experimental vaccines are being developed for clinical trials next year.
"Before the end of first half of 2015 … we could have available a few hundred thousand doses. That could be 200,000 – it could be less or could be more,'' Kieny said after a meeting in Geneva of industry executives, global health experts, drug regulators and funders.
Donor countries have committed to finance the research, Kieny said. “There is a broad understanding that money will not be an issue" in developing an Ebola vaccine, Reuters news agency quoted her as saying.
New York confirms case
On Thursday, a New York City doctor who recently treated Ebola victims in Guinea became the first person in the U.S. city to be diagnosed with the virus.
Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed the case late Thursday, saying Dr. Craig Spencer has been placed in isolation at Belleview Hospital Center and the general public has no cause for alarm.
"Ebola is an extremely hard disease to contract," de Blasio said. "… New Yorkers who have not been exposed to an infected person's bodily fluids are not at all at risk."
Spencer on Thursday had notified the medical charity Doctors Without Borders, with whom he’d worked, that he had a high fever and nausea – two symptoms of Ebola.
Officials are looking for anyone who may have had contact with Spencer. He is the fourth person diagnosed with Ebola on U.S. soil, and the first in New York.
Mali case may signal setback
The West African nation of Mali on Thursday also reported its first case of Ebola, in what many warn could be another major setback to African efforts to contain the disease.
Health Minister Ousmane Kone said on state television the patient is a 2-year-old girl who was brought to a hospital from neighboring Guinea. She had traveled with her grandmother, Kone said, adding, "It is possible that these two people arrived at a time when the symptoms were not detectable."
The girl's condition is improving, thanks to quick treatment in the western town of Kayes, Kone said.
The Ebola outbreak – concentrated in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – has killed close to 4,900 people. There are almost 10,000 confirmed or probable cases.
EU secures $1.25 billion to fight Ebola
European Union leaders on Friday announced they have secured $1.25 billion to help fight the Ebola crisis in West Africa. The announcement followed a summit of EU member nations in Brussels on Thursday.
So far, there have only been scattered cases of Ebola reported in the United States and Europe.
Even so, U.S. government health officials are ordering travelers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to monitor their health for 21 days and give local health departments daily reports.
The monitoring program starts Monday in six eastern states – Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia – where the majority of those travelers arrive. They will be given an Ebola kit, including a thermometer, upon arriving at airports.
New York called ‘ready’
In the latest case in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Dr. Spencer was familiar with symptoms and handled himself appropriately once he experienced symptoms.
Cuomo said the city is "as ready as one can be for this circumstance" and has been preparing for weeks to handle a possible Ebola case.
The White House said President Barack Obama spoke separately late Thursday with de Blasio and Cuomo, assuring them both of "any additional federal support necessary."
Obama also noted "the extensive preparations that New York City and, in particular, Bellevue Hospital Center … have undertaken to prepare for this contingency."
The earlier Ebola cases in the U.S. include a Liberian man who died two weeks ago at a hospital in Dallas, Texas. Two nurses who treated him are hospitalized and reportedly doing well.
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