Dallas nurse Amber Vinson is officially Ebola-free, her mother said in a statement Wednesday evening.
Vinson contracted the hemorrhagic fever several weeks ago while treating Liberian patient Thomas Duncan in Texas, the second American to catch the disease in the U.S. ABC News reports Duncan died of the virus on Oct. 8.
Vinson, 29, was transferred last week from Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where she works and was initially treated, to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, which is specially outfitted to treat and isolate Ebola patients.
“We are overjoyed to announce that, as of yesterday [Tuesday] evening, officials at Emory University Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control are no longer able to detect virus in her body,” Vinson’s family said in a statement Wednesday. She should be able to leave the isolation unit at Emory shortly.
“Amber and our family are ecstatic to receive this latest report on her condition,” Vinson’s mother, Debra Berry, said. “We all know that further treatment will be necessary as Amber continues to regain strength, but these latest developments have truly answered prayers and bring our family one step close to reuniting with her at home.”
Vinson is the sixth American (not counting one American dog) to recover from Ebola. Several doctors, nurses and journalists who contracted the disease while working in Ebola-stricken countries in West Africa have all recovered after being transferred to the U.S. in isolation. (RELATED: American Ebola Patients Recovering)
Fellow Dallas nurse Nina Pham, who also treated Duncan, had her condition upgraded from ‘fair’ to ‘good’ on Tuesday night. She and Vinson are the only known Americans who have contracted the disease in the country, both while treating Duncan. (RELATED: California Nurses’ Union Wants Extra Ebola Coverage)
