DALLAS — Watching from a television set in Dallas, nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital cheered as they watched an Ebola-free Nina Pham speak about her return to Dallas from Bethesda, Maryland.
But before she began her trip back home, the 26-year-old nurse made a stop in Washington, D.C. to meet with President Barack Obama. The pair embraced before they sat down to chat in the Oval Office of the White House.
Health officials at the National Institutes of Health announced Pham was free of the virus Friday morning. She was released later that day.
The news came after Pham's condition was upgraded Tuesday to good.
"I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today," she said during a press conference Friday morning outside the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the 26-year-old nurse was cleared after five polymerase chain reaction tests came back negative for the virus.
"One of the most important things in bringing back an Ebola patient to health is to give them the kind of medical general support to allow their own body to then be able to fight off the virus and essentially get rid of the virus," Fauci said.
The doctor also emphasized that the risk of contracting the virus in the general public is low.
"Nina put herself in a situation where she knew it was a risk, but because of her character and her bravery — and that of her colleagues in the field — she happen to unfortunately get infected," Fauci said. "That's a different story from the general public. She was with a very sick person."
The doctor said Pham wasn't given experimental drugs during her care at the Maryland hospital.
Local officials also reacted to news of Pham's release.
"You're a hero," said Mayor Mike Rawlings from Dallas. "It's people like you that make our city great."
Pham was transported from Texas Health Presbyterian to the National Institutes of Health in Maryland five days after her diagnosis on October 12.
A nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, Pham contracted the virus while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with the disease on U.S. soil.
Following her diagnosis, her dog Bentley was transported from her Dallas apartment to a quarantine location in North Texas. While test results came back negative for the disease earlier this week, Bentley's scheduled to remain under quarantine until November 1.
As of Friday morning, a Go Fund Me account in honor of Pham raised more than $89,000.
Pham was one of two nurses in Dallas who became infected with Ebola while treating Duncan, who died of the disease October 8.
Amber Vinson's family said Wednesday that she's also free of the virus. Two days before Pham's hospital transfer, Vinson was moved from Texas Health Presbyterian to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
