A number of outlets are reporting that Craig Spencer, the doctor who was infected with the Ebola virus in Guinea and hospitalized after his return to New York City, has successfully recovered from his illness and will be released from Bellevue Hospital tomorrow. From the New York Times:
Dr. Spencer was given every treatment available, including an experimental drug and blood plasma donated by a recovered Ebola patient, Nancy Writebol, a 59-year-old missionary who contracted the virus in Liberia.
His condition was serious at first, but by last week, he had asked for his banjo and exercise bicycle, the first signs that he was on the way to being released.
Spencer, of course, triggered a number of New York City freakouts by seemingly traveling to every neighborhood in the metropolis and using all of its subway lines en route to a crowded Brooklyn bowling alley the night before he developed Ebola symptoms. He is the eighth patient in the United States to recover from the disease out of the nine individuals treated here, a statistic that underlines the potential to significantly improve treatment outcomes in West Africa, where patients often die because medical facilities are understaffed and lack basic equipment.
