Nurse Amber Vinson Ebola-Free, Discharged From Hospital
Good news from the Ebola front: Amber Vinson, the second nurse who contracted Ebola through close contact with Liberian patient Thomas Eric Duncan, has now been declared free of the disease and discharged from the hospital.
Vinson is one of two Dallas nurses who was diagnosed with Ebola after treating Liberian citizen Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed in the United States with the virus. Duncan, who had symptoms after flying from Liberia to Texas in September, was admitted to Dallas’ Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital but died on October 8.
The other nurse, Nina Pham, was treated at a National Institutes of Health facility in Maryland before being declared Ebola-free on Friday. She was discharged from the hospital that day and met President Barack Obama at the White House before returning home.
Vinson was initially hospitalized in Dallas and was transferred to Emory University Hospital on October 15.
Ribner said that the Emory hospital staff has learned “a great deal” about treating Ebola after having successfully treated four patients with the virus, including Vinson. They’ve learned lessons about fluid and electrolyte management and that physicians can aggressively treat Ebola patients even when they become dependent on dialysis, he said. Emory is sharing those lessons with colleagues in West Africa and across the United States, Ribner said.