Nurse Nina Pham Ebola-free, meets Obama

DALLAS — After nearly two weeks in isolation, Ebola patient Nina Pham walked out of a Maryland hospital on Friday free of the deadly disease that has seized the nation’s attention.

“She has no virus in her,” said Dr. Tony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Health. “She is cured of Ebola, let's get that clear.”

Fauci's boss' boss got the message. President Barack Obama invited Pham and her family to the White House where he gave the Ebola survivor a big hug.

Pham — one of two Texas nurses to contract the disease while caring for the country’s first Ebola patient — was hopeful and humble as she left the hospital Friday morning.

“I am on my way back to recovery even as I reflect on how many others have not been so fortunate,” Pham said. “I do not know how I can ever thank everyone enough for their prayers and their expressions of concerns, hope and love.”

Still, the 26-year-old acknowledged the ordeal “has been very stressful and challenging for me and my family.”

“Although I no longer have Ebola, I know it may be a while before I have my strength back,” Pham said.

Pham and her colleague, Amber Vinson, were among 50 to 70 health care workers involved in the treatment of Liberian citizen Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian in Dallas from Sept. 28 to Oct. 8.

Duncan arrived in Texas from Ebola-ravaged Liberia on Sept. 20. The disease, which kills more than half the people it infects, has claimed the lives of more than 4,000 people in West Africa in 2014, the World Health Organization estimates. There is no known cure.

Duncan, 42, was the first person to ever be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. Investigators have not determined how Pham and Vinson specifically contracted the disease from Duncan, who died on his 10th day of intensive care at Texas Health Presbyterian. Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids and secretions, including blood, mucus, feces and vomit of an ill or deceased person.

Pham, a nurse for four years, was the first hospital employee to become ill. She reportedly felt a fever while at home two days after Duncan's death and drove herself to the hospital's ER. Her Ebola was confirmed on Oct. 12. It was the first time the deadly virus has been transmitted in the United States. Vinson was diagnosed on Oct. 14.

Both nurses were initially treated by their employer in Dallas before being flown last week to separate facilities with specialized units trained in treating Ebola.

Earlier this week, Vinson's family announced that the 29-year-old is in good condition and Ebola-free at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Hospital officials confirmed her recovery on Friday, but said a date for Vinson's discharge has not be determined.

Approximately 100 people in the Dallas area — most of them health care workers who were involved in the treatment of Duncan, Pham or Vinson — are still being monitored for Ebola symptoms.

Pham received a plasma transfusion from Ebola-survivor Dr. Kent Brantly while in Dallas, but Fauci said the nurse was not given experimental drugs while at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He said he could not pinpoint a milestone moment in her recovery.

“The only thing that we’re really happy about is that the turning point occurred,” Fauci said. “It is virtually impossible to say this is the thing that did it and this is the thing that didn’t do it.”

Pham, who walked out of the hospital flanked by her mother and sister, drew applause and laughter when she announced that she was ready to “get back to Texas and reunite with my dog Bentley.”

Bentley, a 1-year-old year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, has become somewhat of a celebrity during Pham’s illness. He was rescued from the nurse’s apartment while it was being decontaminated and is being monitoring for Ebola symptoms.

“I’m excited to welcome her home and I know that Bentley will be glad to see her,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a written statement. “Although Bentley remains under quarantine united the end of the month, Nina will be able to visit, hold and play with him tomorrow. I know that will be good for both of them.”

The Oval Office detour before departing for Dallas was a fitting sendoff for someone Fauci described as an “extraordinarily courageous and lovely person.”

“She represents the nurses and health care workers who put themselves on the line and put themselves in risk to take care of people who are in such need,” Fauci said.

(This story was updated at 2:50 p.m. ET.)

Jason Sickles is a reporter for Yahoo. Follow him on Twitter (@jasonsickles).