Health Worker Who Cared For The First Ebola Victim In The US, Tests Positive For Ebola
According to state health officials, a health care worker in Texas who helped treat Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died of Ebola last week, has tested positive for the disease in a preliminary test.
By Sadho Ram — 12 Oct 2014, 07:03 PM — Updated about 10 years ago
Declared Free Of Ebola, Nurse Nina Pham Meets President Obama Before Heading Home
President Obama embraced Nina Pham, the first person in the country to be infected with Ebola, in the Oval Office on Friday. At right are her mother and sister.
Image via nyt.comNina Pham, the nurse who contracted Ebola while treating a patient in Dallas, is now virus-free and was being discharged on Friday, National Institutes of Health officials said. Pham was the first person to contract Ebola within the U.S. She and a second nurse were infected with the virus while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, who later died from Ebola. Pham was eventually transferred to the NIH's clinical center in Maryland.
mashable.com
She appeared Friday at a press briefing, dressed in a turquoise shirt and black suit, thanking Americans for their prayers. “I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today,” said Ms. Pham. “I first and foremost would like to thank God, my family and friends. Throughout this ordeal I have put my trust in God and my medical team.”
wsj.comShe then went to the White House for a hug from President Obama before her return home to Dallas. Jubilantly declaring that “hope just went up a notch today,” Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said that Ms. Pham was virus free after her release from the Institute’s Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md.
nytimes.com
Flanked by her sister and her mother, she called the infection “very stressful and challenging,” and said she was looking forward to reuniting with her dog, Bentley, who officials in Texas had indicated was also virus free. “I believe in the power of prayer, because I know so many people all over the world have been praying for me,” Ms. Pham said.
nytimes.com
Nina Pham, now Ebola-free, hugs Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Image via mshcdn.com[VIDEO] Ebola Infected US Nurse Gets Emotional With Her Doctors
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital released a video of Dallas Ebola patient Nina Pham joking around with her doctors Thursday night, shortly before she was transported to a Maryland hospital.
gawker.com
Pham's treating physician, Dr. Gary Weinstein, recorded a video of his patient before she was discharged from Texas Health Presbyterian Thursday and posted it on YouTube with her permission. In it, Pham asks for her co-workers to come visit her in Maryland with a big laugh before shedding some tears and telling her care staff she loves them.
wfaa.com
It was a side of Nina Pham that people close to her had talked about, but on Thursday night everyone got a glimpse. Video taken inside the hospital room of Dallas Presbyterian shows Pham sitting in her hospital bed sharing a laugh with physicians and nurses.
wfaa.com
"Come to Maryland everybody!" she said laughing. At one point needing a tissue to wipe away tears. She had few words but it carried a very strong message. "I love you guys," she said.
The US Health Worker Who Tested Positive For Ebola, Identified As 26-Year-Old Nina Pham
Nina Pham, the Texas health worker who tested positive with Ebola, with her dog
Image via nydailynews.comThe identity of the Dallas health care worker who contracted Ebola after treating a patient who later died of the virus has been confirmed. The family of 26-year-old Nina Pham, a nurse at Dallas' Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, confirmed the news to WFAA.
Pham had been helping to treat Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who was diagnosed with Ebola last month. Duncan was the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. He died last week. Last week, Texas health officials announced that a hospital worker who treated Duncan had showed symptoms of the virus. They confirmed the diagnosis on Sunday.
Texas health officials did not identify Pham during a media briefing Monday afternoon, but Texas health commissioner Dr. David Lakey said the patient has a dog, and that authorities were working "hard to find a location" for the pet to be sure it is properly cared for.
mashable.com
CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said during the briefing that the patient has so far been "extremely helpful" while in isolation at the hospital. She identified just one contact with whom Pham had contact during a period when she was potentially infectious (though likely not, Frieden said). That person is being monitored.
mashable.com
On Sunday, 12 October, a health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, who cared for the 42-year-old Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola victim on American soil, has tested positive for the virus after a preliminary test, state health officials said
A Texas health care worker who treated a man who later died of Ebola has tested positive for the disease in a preliminary test, doctors said on Sunday, the second person to be diagnosed with the illness on US soil.
Confirmatory testing of the second case on U.S. soil will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the statement from the Texas Department of State Health Services said.
The worker, who was not identified, was isolated after he reported a low grade fever Friday night and was referred for testing
Health care workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where the Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, was treated
Image via nyt.com"We knew a second case could be a reality, and we've been preparing for this possibility," said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. "We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread."
The statement added that people who had contact with the health care worker after symptoms emerged "will be monitored based on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus."
nytimes.com
The latest developments come hours after New York's JFK Airport began an Ebola screening program, taking the temperatures of passengers arriving from three West African Countries
People make their way at the international arrival terminal at JFK airport in New York October 11, 2014
Image via imgur.comCustoms and health officials began taking the temperatures of passengers arriving at New York’s Kennedy International Airport from three West African countries on Saturday in a stepped-up screening effort meant to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.
Federal health officials said the entry screenings, which will expand to four additional U.S. airports in the next week, add another layer of protection to halt the spread of a disease that has killed more than 4,000 people.
The screening will be expanded over the next week to four other airports: New Jersey’s Newark Liberty, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta. Customs officials say about 150 people travel daily from or through Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea to the United States, and nearly 95 percent of them land first at one of the five airports.
reuters.com