The American Ebola patient, Dr Craig Spencer was released from the Bellevue Hospital Center in New York on Tuesday after doctors found that he was healthy, completely free from the deadly virus and not posed any threat to public health.
"I am pleased to announce that we were able to treat and cure a hero who put himself in harm's way to care for others," The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), President Dr. Ram Raju, said in a statement.
Dr Spencer, who is an emergency –room doctor at the New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, contracted Ebola while working for an international humanitarian organisation called "Doctors Without Borders" in Guinea, but tested positive only on October 23, exactly one week after he returned to his Harlem apartment in New York.
The 33-year-old had been under the care and support of the Bellevue medical team since then. During the treatment, he received a blood transfusion from Nancy Writebol, a missionary and one of the few survivors of the disease. Apart from that, Dr Spencer also received an antiviral medication and plasma.
Dr. Spencer in a statement thanked the medical team who helped him successfully defeat the disease and also revealed his recovery was highly promising in the fight against Ebola.
"My recovery from Ebola speaks to the effectiveness of the protocols in place for health staff returning from West Africa at the time of my infection," Dr Spencer, said in a statement. "I am a living example of how those protocols work, and of how early detection and isolation is critical to both surviving Ebola and ensuring that it is not transmitted to others."
Dr Spencer is the third patient to successfully recover from the deadly disease in the country. Nina Pham (26) and Amber Vinson (29), the two nurses who contracted Ebola while taking care of the first Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, returned home after they became Ebola-free last month.
Doctors who treated Spencer said that he is completely safe, but should stay away from sex as the virus will continue to exist in his semen for some more days.
"Once he's had Ebola, he develops antibodies (that are) protective to him. He won't get Ebola again. Since he's not having fever or active symptoms, he's not at risk to the community," Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician from Lenox Hill Hospital, told New York Daily News. "The virus lives in semen for up to 3 months, so he should not engage in sexual intercourse (for that time)."
New York City was under Ebola scare after it was revealed that Dr Spencer had visited a bowling alley in Brooklyn, a restaurant in Manhattan and three subways, after he returned home on 17 October. However, New York has not reported any Ebola cases until then.
Spencer's fiancée Morgan Dixon (30) is still under home isolation and is expected to be released in another two days, The Daily Mail reported.
