Dallas Nurse Discharged From Emory University Hospital

By Dow Jones Business News, October 28, 2014, 03:15:00 PM EDT

ATLANTA-- Amber Joy Vinson, the second nurse to contract Ebola while treating a patient diagnosed with the disease in Dallas, was discharged Tuesday by Emory University Hospital.

Ms. Vinson, a nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, provided extensive care to Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who died of Ebola at the hospital Oct. 8. She was admitted to Emory on Oct. 15.

At a news conference announcing her release, Bruce Ribner, head of the hospital's Serious Communicable Disease Unit, said Ms. Vinson was free of the virus. "She can return to her family, her community, and her life without any concerns about transmitting the virus to any other individuals," he said.

Wearing a gray suit and smiling brightly, Ms. Vinson thanked her Emory health-care team as well as the hospital's first two Ebola patients--Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol--for their donations of blood plasma, or convalescent serum, to other U.S. patients. Ms. Vinson said through an Emory spokeswoman that she had received donations from both Dr. Brantly and Ms. Writebol, but only needed to use one, from Dr. Brantly.

Ms. Vinson also asked that attention remain on the "thousands" of families in West Africa who have been afflicted by Ebola.

Texas Health Presbyterian called Ms. Vinson's release "a joyful day" and said "she is to be commended for her strength and courage" in choosing to provide care for Mr. Duncan and in her fight against the disease.

Dr. Ribner declined to provide details of Ms. Vinson's treatment, including why the nurse had remained in the hospital for several days after she was declared virus free last week.

Ms. Vinson and her colleague Nina Pham both recovered relatively quickly; Ms. Vinson was discharged less than two weeks after arriving at Emory. Other U.S. Ebola patients have been in treatment three weeks or longer.

Dr. Ribner said doctors don't know why the two women recovered so quickly. But they have two hypotheses, he said. The women, both in their 20s, are two of the youngest patients to be treated for Ebola in the U.S. They were also wearing protective gear while treating Mr. Duncan and may have been exposed only to small amounts of virus, he said.

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Dallas Nurse Discharged From Emory University Hospital