Nina Pham reclaimed the King Charles Spaniel in a vacant residence at a decommissioned naval air station where he was quarantined for 21 days. Veterinarians in full personal protective gear checked on him daily.
“I’d like to take a moment to thank people from all around the world who have sent their best wishes and prayers to me and Mr. Bentley,” said Pham, who was accompanied by the dog as she read a statement at a news conference.
Pham was diagnosed with Ebola last month. She contracted the virus while caring for a Liberian visitor to the United Statea, Thomas Eric Duncan, who died Oct. 8 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.
Pham was flown to a Washington, D.C.-area hospital for treatment. She was released Oct. 24 after being declared free of the virus.
Earlier this year, authorities in Madrid, Spain, caused a public uproar when they euthanized a dog belonging to a nursing assistant sickened by Ebola.
“Bentley is alive and well in the city of Dallas,” Mayor Mike Rawlings said, adding that he even kissed the dog Saturday. “There were a lot of human beings that spent a lot of time making sure this dog was safe.”
New York patient’s condition improves
Doctors on Saturday upgraded the condition of New York City’s first Ebola patient to stable, health officials said.
The patient, Dr. Craig Spencer, who treated patients with the virus in Guinea, had been in serious but stable condition at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan, where he was brought Oct. 23 after developing a fever. His condition was upgraded “based on our patient’s clinical progress and response to treatment,” according to a statement by the city’s Health and Hospitals Corp.
Spencer, 33, has been receiving anti-viral and blood-plasma therapies that have helped eradicate the virus in Ebola patients at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
The statement said Spencer would remain in isolation and continue to receive full treatment. Despite a search for others who might have had contact with him, he remains the only person with the virus hospitalized in New York.
Spanish health worker out of isolation unit
Teresa Romero tested positive on Oct 6, but was declared cured of the virus 15 days later. She was the first known person to contract the disease outside of West Africa in the latest outbreak.
Madrid’s Carlos III hospital said hospital staff no longer needed to wear protective outfits while attending to Romero, 44, who was able to reunite with her husband, Javier Limon.
Romero had treated two Spanish missionaries who died of Ebola in August and September after they were flown back to Spain from West Africa. She still needs to recover fully from the after-effects of the infection.
