The Kiwi nurse who sparked New Zealand's first Ebola scare is relieved to be home.
Bronni McBain, 47, spent six nights in isolation in Christchurch Hospital as healthcare workers in full-body overalls tested her for the virus. Two tests were negative.
A crack medical team, including specially trained St Johnstaff, made a 16-hour mercy dash to her home in Gore, 65km north of Invercargill, last Saturday morning to ferry her to an isolation unit.
McBain had just returned from Sierra Leone where she treated Ebola patients as part of an international aid relief team.
She confirmed to the Herald on Sunday that she had been released from hospital on Friday. "I'm doing okay. I'm out of hospital so that's wonderful. I'm very pleased," she said. "And the care was exemplary, it was amazing, they've done a really good job in New Zealand to get up and running for Ebola."
She was unable to comment further because her contract with Australian healthcare provider Aspen Medical prevents her from doing so for 21 days after returning to New Zealand - the deadly virus' incubation period.
After arriving home, McBain told a public health officer she was unwell. The Northland Emergency Services Trust's chopper transported an isolation pod for her to beflown to hospital in.
McBain's husband was told to self-monitor at home.
Two blood tests sent to the Victoria Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, in Melbourne, returned negative results.
Ministry of Health acting director of public health Dr Stewart Jessamine said all agencies involved would be debriefed to see if anything could be improved should there be a second Ebola scare.
