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Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : October 15, 2014 11:06 AM IST
Nina Pham, the US nurse who became infected with Ebola, has said that she is doing 'well', according to a communique released by Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where she has been quarantined since Oct 10.
'I'm doing well and want to thank everyone for their kind wishes and prayers. I am blessed by the support of family and friends and am blessed to be cared for by the best team of doctors and nurses in the world here at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas,' Pham, who became infected with the virus while caring for a patient who died of Ebola Oct 8, said Tuesday.
On Monday, Thomas Frieden, the head of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, had reported that Pham was 'clinically stable'.
Meanwhile, Barclay Berdan, the executive director of Texas Health Resources, the health consortium to which the Dallas hospital belongs, said Tuesday that the healthcare team attending Pham was 'working tirelessly to help her in this courageous fight'.
'The doctors and nurses involved with her treatment remain hopeful, and we ask for the prayers of the entire country,' added Berdan in the same communique.
Pham, 26, was one of the nurses caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the US and the only person to have died so far in this country from the virus.
How the Ebola virus spreads in humans?
The recent Ebola outbreak has been considered as an international emergency by the WHO due to the havoc it has created worldwide. The virus has claimed many innocent lives and is posing to be the toughest challenge in the world of medicine and science till date, with no proven cure in place or a vaccination to prevent the outspread of the epidemic. However, recent studies have shown some success in treating the virus with experimental drugs. While no one yet knows the exact way how this notorious virus got into the human body, thereby attacking the immune system and claiming lives, here are ways in which it can spread across the human race.
It spreads through infected body fluids: Ebola spreads from one infected person to the other through direct contact of the skin and other bodily fluids. The virus is present in the body fluids of an infected person which includes blood, semen, sweat, urine, saliva, feaces, vomit, etc. If a healthy person comes in contact with the infected body fluids that enters his system through open wounds, blood transfusions or through the eyes, ears, mouth, nostrils, genital area, it can infect an individual within a span of two to 21 days depending on the severity of the viral attack. Having unsafe sex with an infected person also can lead to the viral infection.
It can spread by using infected needles and other contaminated objects: This is obvious as infected needles and other contaminated objects might have remnants of infected body fluids. If this gets into the system of a healthy individual, it can spread the deadly disease rapidly. Read more about How the Ebola virus spreads in humans
With inputs from IANS
Image source: Getty Images
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