One of the Texas nurses who contracted Ebola, Nina Pham, has finally been reunited with her dog Bentley, after the King Charles spaniel was tested three times for the virus and put under quarantine.
Ms Pham became the first person to catch the deadly virus in the US, when caring for a patient in a Dallas hospital. After being immediately quarantined, she was then transported to a treatment centre in Maryland. While she was recovering, her fate, and that of her spaniel Bentley, became something of a media sensation in the US, when the dog was also quarantined.
Whether Bentley would survive was always in question, as canines can carry Ebola without succumbing to it, making them highly infectious. In October, a dog belonging to the Spanish nurse who contracted Ebola was euthanised by Madrid medical officials, despite a huge online movement and sit-ins outside the apartment building where the dog was being kept.
The US media closely monitored Bentley's progress, and updates on Twitter described the 2-year-old pooch's progress while he was quarantined at a decommissioned naval air base.
@DallasShelter says Bentley moves to next phase of quarantine. He had a comfortable evening playing w/ donated toys. pic.twitter.com/fOoIP31pF6
— Zahid Arab (@ZahidArabFox4) October 18, 2014
Bentley underwent three rounds of testing before finally being cleared of the virus, and was reunited with his owner over the weekend. You can see a video of one very happy dog and his delighted owner here:
