The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have come under fire from both health care workers and U.S. citizens for what seemed to be poor executions of protocols that could have prevented two nurses who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient to be diagnosed of Ebola in the United States who later died, from contracting the same disease.
However, in just a few short days, things have gone a complete turnaround-this time, for the better. Amber Vinson, one of the nurses infected with the Ebola virus, is said to have tested negative as of Friday, October 24. The first one, Nina Pham, has just been released after being declared virus free.
Vinson was officially diagnosed with the virus on October 15 after she was taken to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital because of a fever. A day before she traveled from Cleveland to Dallas with no symptoms except for a higher-than-normal temperature. She notified CDC about it but was not told not to fly.
Immediately after the diagnosis, Vinson was flown from Dallas to Atlanta, Georgia, where she was treated in isolation at Emory University Hospital, the first hospital in the United States to receive Ebola patients.
Today, Vinson has already tested negative of the virus and may be released anytime soon once the supportive care she needs is no longer necessary.
Her speedy recovery, nevertheless, brought some questions. Unlike other Ebola patients who stayed in hospitals for weeks, Vinson's recovery was more or less 2 weeks.
Although doctors cannot really pinpoint the exact reason for Vinson's quick recovery, it could be a combination of many factors.
In an interview conducted by NBC News, University of Texas Medical infectious disease expert Thomas Geisbert said that it's rare for patients with Ebola to recover that quick. However, it could be because the patients were diagnosed in the country with a more comprehensive health care or the treatment was provided very quickly.
