Amber Vinson’s family: Nurse is Ebola-free

Amber Vinson, the second health-care worker to contract Ebola in the U.S., is now free of the virus, her family said in a statement.

“We are overjoyed to announce that, as of yesterday evening, officials at Emory University Hospital and the Centers for Disease Control are no longer able to detect virus in her body. She has also been approved for transfer from isolation,” Vinson’s family said in a statement. Vinson, a Dallas-based nurse, contracted the virus after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who became the first and, so far, only person to die of Ebola in the U.S. Her case raised alarm as she flew from Cleveland to Dallas shortly before being diagnosed. She has since been transferred to Atlanta and remains in treatment at Emory’s Serious Communicable Diseases Unit.

“Amber and our family are ecstatic to receive this latest report on her condition,” Vinson’s mother Debra Berry said in the statement. ”We all know that further treatment will be necessary as Amber continues to regain strength, but these latest developments have truly answered prayers and bring our family one step closer to reuniting with her at home.”Both Texas officials and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tightened up protocols after Vinson was diagnosed. On Tuesday, federal health officials upgraded the condition of Nina Pham, the first nurse to contract Ebola from Duncan, from “fair” to “good.”

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