Ebola News, Update: NY Doctor Now Virus-Free, Discharged From Hospital
New York health professional Dr. Craig Spencer, was released from Bellevue Hospital in New York City this Tuesday, according to reports.
He was discharged from the hospital and received "plenty of hugs and congratulations" from the attendees on a news conference covering his hospital release, NBC News reported.
"Today I am healthy and no longer infectious," the 33-year-old doctor told the cheering crowd.
"It is a good feeling to hug a hero and we have a hero here in our midst," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was quoted as saying. "Dr. Spencer is Ebola-free, and New York City is Ebola-free."
Dr. Spencer was diagnosed with ebola in New York City last month. As reported, he contracted the virus while working with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF or Doctors Without Borders) in Guinea.
Upon completing his work, he left Africa two days later via Europe and landed on Oct. 17 at John F. Kennedy Airport. He was seen to have contracted the illness on Oct. 23. CNN reported that this is the same day when he informed the MSF organization about his fever.
Officials said that Spencer was immediately hospitalized after developing nausea, pain and fatigue – the other outright symptoms of the disease.
For 19 days, he has been isolated and treated at New York's Bellevue Hospital.
USA Today, meanwhile, stated in their report that aside from receiving supportive care from the hospital, Spencer also received the experimental medication that was given to the earlier Ebola survivor Nancy Writebol.
Writebol is a missionary who contracted the virus while volunteering in Liberia. She was treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.