Obama Hugs Nurse Who Survived Ebola

President Barack Obama hugs nurse Nina Pham, who was declared free
of the Ebola virus after contracting the disease while caring for a
Liberian patient in Texas, during a meeting in the Oval Office in
Washington on Oct. 24, 2014.

The nurse was cleared of Ebola Friday morning

A few days ago, Dallas nurse Nina Pham lay in bed in an isolated
hospital room at National Institutes of Health (NIH) where her doctors
donned hazmat suits to care for her. On Friday, President Barack Obama
hugged Pham, now free of Ebola, in the open air of the Oval Office.

"Let's give a hug for the cameras," he told Pham.

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, NIH infectious
disease head Anthony Fauci, along with several other doctors and
family members, were also present at the Friday meeting.

Pham contracted Ebola while caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first
person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, who died Oct. 8 at
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Pham was subsequently
moved to NIH in Maryland to undergo treatment, and was declared
Ebola-free Friday morning.

After a patient was diagnosed with Ebola in New York City on Thursday,
the hug was a triumphant moment amid continued fear over the potential
for Ebola to spread in the U.S. White House Press Secretary Josh
Earnest told journalists at press briefing Friday that Pham's recovery
served as "a pretty apt reminder that we do have the best medical
infrastructure in the world."
--Time