The nation’s worst fear, the first person to have been infected with Ebola in the U.S. has been identified ad 26-year-old Nina Pham.
Nina was diagnosed with the virus over the weekend. Her family members who who confirmed her name to ABC News affiliate WFAA, also shared details of her with media outlets saying, Nina –who is a nurse –grew up in Forth Worth and attended Texas Christian University.
Nina contracted the virus after she was among the first staffers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to treat Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, who became last week, the first person to die of the virus in the U.S.
Nina described as a health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, graduated from TCU’s nursing program in 2010.
An online report from ABC news says a Family friend, Tom Ha said Nina Pham is a “hero” to the Vietnamese-American community. He also said Nina comes from devoutly Catholic family with a strong desire to serve humanity and a history of serving the poor and sick. She and her family are said to regularly attend mass at the Lady of Fatima Church. He also talked about how Nina made her dream come true on becoming a nurse, after she was accepted into nursing school many would quit but Nina was doing what she wanted to do.
It’s still a mystery how exactly she contracted the Ebola since the health care workers who were tasked with treating Thomas Eric Duncan reportedly followed CDC-mandated anti-infection protocols. Meaning she may not be the only person that became infected while treating Duncan.
Other members of the team that treated Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas are being closely monitored according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Thomas Frieden.
According to a reports from the Daily Mail, Nina had recently been qualified as a critical care nurse. The pretty nurse has remained in isolation since Friday and reports say she is in stable condition.
Her Facebook page has been deleted but you can find her on Pinterest here and on Twitter here.
