Nurse infected with Ebola downgraded from 'good' to 'fair'

The nurse who contracted Ebola after volunteering to attend the US's "patient zero" has had her condition downgraded from "good" to "fair".

The head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases made the announcement about nurse Nina Pham's condition just one day after she appeared in a video to thank her doctors in Texas.

In a briefing outside the institute in Maryland, Dr Anthony Fauci described the 26-year-old nurse as being in a "fair, stable condition and resting comfortably".

The American Hospital Association lists "fair" as a slightly worse condition than "good" — the condition Ms Pham was said to be in on Thursday.

The downgrading comes after a tearful but generally upbeat Ms Pham thanked her carers at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital before she was moved to the specialist centre in Maryland.

Dr Fauci said the nurse still had symptoms of Ebola but he was unable to specify further details due to patient confidentiality.

The doctor described Ms Pham as "a trooper" who was receiving "optimum, intensive care".

He added the nurse was suffering extreme fatigue because Ebola "knocks you out".

Ms Pham contracted Ebola after volunteering to care for Thomas Duncan, the US's "patient zero".

Mr Duncan died from the disease on October 8.

Facts about Ebola

-Ebola can only be transmitted from human-to-human via direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids like saliva, vomit, faeces, sweat, urine and semen.
-It cannot be transmitted by coughing or sneezing, but relies on the bodily fluids touching another person's eyes, nose, mouth or an open cut.
-Ebola patients are not infectious until they develop symptoms, which include fever, muscle pain, headaches and sore throats.
-Advanced symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea, impaired kidney and liver function and internal and external bleeding.
-Ebola is a highly deadly disease, with a fatality rate ranging from 25 to 90 percent, depending on the strain contracted and speed of treatment.
-The disease has spread in west Africa so quickly because of ritual preparation for burial, which involves close contact with infected bodies.
-Countries such as Sierra Leone and Liberia have seen a higher rate of infection because of a lack of education about the disease and little access to health care.

Source: Daily Mail
Author: Nicholas McCallum, Approving editor: Nick Pearson