Nina Pham, the Dallas nurse to contracted Ebola this week, may have spread the virus to her boyfriend, according to reports.
Got News reported that it got information from two separate Alcon employees. It reported on an email that was sent out to Alcon employees, which said her boyfriend was admitted to the hospital with “Ebola-like symptoms” and “he’s now in quarantine.” The website posted an update from Alcon CEO Jeff George’s email.
It, however, did not totally confirm if he got the virus.
Meanwhile, the condition of Pham has been downgraded from “good” to “fair,” according to reports. “Good condition” is worse than “fair condition,” according to the American Hospital Association scale.
Pham, 26, apparently contracted the deadly virus after caring for Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, who died a few weeks ago.
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Another nurse, Amber Joy Vinson, also was quarantined after being diagnosed with Ebola. She is being treated in Emory, Atlanta.
On Friday night, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Pham is in “fair, stable condition and resting comfortably.” Pham is sitting up, talking with staff members, and eating, he said, via ABC News.
“She’s very fatigued. This is a disease that wreaks havoc on you... This virus knocks you out,” he said.
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And Dr. Richard Davy continued: “She’s interacting with the staff, she’s eating... I really think she’s doing quite well.”
Pham, 26, arrived shortly before midnight Thursday and was admitted to the clinical studies unit. Doctors said her mother and sister also were in the Washington area.
Pham is being treated by staff specializing in infectious disease and critical care. The hospital has one of four such specialized isolation units in the country designed to handle highly infectious cases.
Workers are monitored as they put on and remove protective clothing and nurses are working in pairs inPham’s room, with one watching the other to make sure correct procedures are followed. They also limit the amount of time they spend in her room to reduce fatigue.
At a briefing outside NIH, Fauci was asked whether Pham’s condition had changed for the worse since she left Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where she was described as in good condition.
Fauci said, “We fully intend to have this patient walk out of this hospital.”
Pham flew late Thursday from Dallas to Maryland. She was seen walking gingerly down the stairs of the plane to an awaiting ambulance that brought her to the hospital.
In a video shot Thursday in her Dallas hospital room, she is seen smiling as she sits upright in a hospital bed while a man identified as her treating physician can be heard thanking her for getting well and being part of the volunteer team that took care of Duncan, who died of Ebola last week.
The Associated Press contributed.
