Ebola Nurse Nina Pham Goes from Good to Fair After Trip to NIH
— -- The condition of nurse Nina Pham, who has become known as Ebola nurse No. 1, has been changed from "good" to "fair, stable" after being transferred to a specialized hospital in Maryland.
But her doctors denied that her health has deteriorated and one doctor was more upbeat saying she's "doing quite well."
Pham, 26, and Amber Vinson, 29, are both nurses who have contracted the lethal virus after helping to care for Thomas Duncan, a Liberian man who died of Ebola in a Dallas hospital.
Vinson has been transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and Pham arrived Thursday night at the National Institutes for Health facility in Maryland.
Pham was listed in good condition when she left Dallas, and shared a YouTube video in which she joked with her doctor.
But Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH's Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said today "her condition is fair, stable.. she's resting comfortably."
Fauci declined to say why she was listed in fair condition, but said she had endured a long trip from Dallas.
"She's not deteriorating," Fauci said. He said she is sitting up and "she still has some symptoms" of Ebola.
"She’s very fatigued. This is a disease that wreaks havoc on you... This virus knocks you out," he said.
Dr. Richard Davy added, "She’s interacting with the staff, she’s eating... I really think she’s doing quite well."
New information emerged today about Vinson's actions before she boarded a commercial plane from Cleveland to Dallas the day before she was diagnosed with Ebola.
Vinson did not directly call federal health officials for permission to board a passenger flight Monday, instead talking to a team of Texas health officials who relayed her symptoms to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, her uncle told ABC News.
“They called Amber back and told her, ‘The CDC is OK with it. You can travel,'” Lawrence Vinson said today.
Vinson said his niece would not have traveled if she had been worried about her condition.
“Amber is one of the most conscientious individuals I know, and she certainly would not have done anything to put the other passengers on that plane or her family at risk,” he said. “Amber flew home and went home. If she felt ill, she would have gone straight to the hospital.”
Meanwhile, authorities have placed travel restrictions on 75 health care workers in Dallas who are being monitored for symptoms, Texas health department officials said.
People who entered Ebola patient Thomas Duncan’s hospital room are being directed not to go to public places such as grocery stores, or travel by plane, ship or train for 21 days after exposure, officials said Thursday night.
The travel restriction was instituted because of Vinson’s situation, authorities acknowledged.
“The direction comes after a health care worker involved in Duncan's care had been on a flight shortly before diagnosis of the disease,” a statement by the Texas Department of State Health Services reads.
CDC officials said Thursday they are looking into a new timeline for Vinson’s symptoms, with the possibility that she was exhibiting symptoms for days before she sought medical attention.
