Update: Texas Hospital Releases Video of Nurse Shortly Before Being Transferred to NIH in Bethesda

Nina Pham, the first U.S. nurse diagnosed with Ebola, was admitted to NIH for treatment Thursday night

October 16, 2014 1:05 p.m.

Update – Friday 7:30 a.m. – Texas nurse Nina Pham arrived at special care unit at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda around midnight Thursday night.

Pham arrived via plan to an airport in Frederick and was then transported by ambulance to a special care unit at NIH.

The Texas hospital where she was being treated released a video shortly before she left, thanking her for being on the team that cared for Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan.

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Original report – Thursday – noon

The first nurse who was diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas, Texas, will be moved to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda for treatment tonight, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH’s infectious disease center.

Fauci made the announcement during a Congressional briefing today.

The nurse, identified as Nina Pham, 26, was diagnosed with the deadly virus after caring for a patient who had Ebola at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. A second nurse from the same hospital, Amber Vinson, 29, was later diagnosed with the disease and is now being treated at a special unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. The patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, died from the virus at the Texas hospital.

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Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen, District 8, who represents parts of Bethesda, said in a tweet that he spoke to NIH Director Francis Collins about moving Pham to NIH.

“He told me NIH is specifically equipped to handle [Ebola]. Proud to have Dr. Collins & his team in our community,” Van Hollen tweeted.

NIH issued the following statement shortly after the news broke:

Later today, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center expects to admit the first nurse who contracted the Ebola virus at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital while providing patient care to the index patient who died of Ebola. The nurse is being admitted to the Special Clinical Studies Unit of the NIH Clinical Center at the request of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.  She will receive state-of-the-art care in this high-level containment facility, which is one of a small number of such facilities in the United States.

The NIH Clinical Center’s Special Clinical Studies Unit is specifically designed to provide high-level isolation capabilities and is staffed by infectious diseases and critical care specialists. The unit staff is trained in strict infection control practices optimized to prevent spread of potentially transmissible agents such as Ebola.  No additional details about the patient are being shared at this time.

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NIH is taking every precaution to ensure the safety of our patients, NIH staff, and the public.

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