Nina Pham, the first person to contract the Ebola virus within the U.S., has been declared free of the disease on Friday.
“I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today,” Pham said. “Throughout this ordeal, I have put my faith in God and my medical team.”
While she initially received treatment at the Texas Presbyterian Hospital, she was moved to a National Institutes of Health hospital located in Bethseda, Maryland, recently.
She added that prayer helped her through the incident, and expressed gratitude for those who had been praying for her health. She also thanked Kent Brantly, a missionary who also contracted Ebola while treating patients in West Africa, for giving her his plasma to better fight the virus.
Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said that Pham’s recovery is “a pretty apt reminder that we do have the best medical infrastructure in the world.”
“The track record of treating Ebola patients in this country is very strong, particularly for those who are quickly diagnosed. The fact that she has been treated and released, I think, is terrific news,” Earnest added.
Pham also drew attention back to the situation in West Africa, saying, “I am on my way back to recovery even as I reflect on how many others have not been so fortunate.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that there are plans to produce “several hundred thousand” vaccine doses for Ebola during the earlier part of 2015, according to BBC. The report further added that “vaccines could be offered to health workers in West Africa by December 2014.”
Pham initially caught the virus while treating Thomas Duncan, a Liberian man who was the first to be diagnosed of the disease while in the U.S. He died in early October. Another nurse who had contracted Ebola while treating Duncan has also been said to have recovered from the disease, but has not been released from the hospital as of yet.
