Nina Pham, the first nurse to test positive for Ebola, spoke for the first time after she was diagnosed with the deadly virus, telling her friends and family that she is doing very well.
Pham, who contracted the virus from Thomas Eric Duncan at a Dallas Hospital, spoke before she was transferred from the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to a hospital in Maryland.
In the video, Pham thanked all the people who have been supporting her, including her co-workers who wished her well while she was being transferred from Texas. The 26-year-old nurse also expressed confidence that her co-workers are skilled enough to treat her soon.
"I'm so thankful for the outpouring of love and support from friends and family, my coworkers and complete strangers," Pham said via USA Today. "I feel very blessed and have gained strength from their support. I'm doing really well thanks to this team, which is the best in the world. I believe in my talented coworkers."
The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital also defended their decision to transfer Pham to another hospital, saying that they are already short of medical staff because most of their health workers are also being monitored.
"With so many of the medical professionals who normally staff our intensive care unit sidelined for the continuous monitoring, we felt it was in the best interest of the hospital's employees, the nurses, the physicians, the community, to give the hospital an opportunity to prepare for whatever comes next," hospital spokesman Wendell Watson said.
Another nurse also contracted the disease was also transferred to a hospital in Atlanta on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the recent Ebola scare in Texas prompted calls for stricter travel ban in the United States. Duncan, who died on October 8, contracted the disease in Liberia before returning to Dallas.
Several countries have already imposed travel ban to and from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, while a big number of airline carriers have already canceled flights to countries with massive cases of Ebola, which has reportedly killed more than 4,500 in Africa.
"We do not have to leave the door open to all travel to and from hot zones in Western Africa while Ebola is an unwelcome and dangerous stowaway on these flights," Representative Tim Murphy said via LA Times.
President Barack Obama said on Thursday that he will strongly consider imposing travel ban to and from countries with Ebola outbreaks, but only if he gets strong recommendations from health experts.
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