The Spanish nurse who recovered from Ebola has paid tribute to God and the health care workers who nursed her back to health.
Teresa Romero was moved to tears as she was applauded entering the room to speak to the press about her recovery.
She said in a statement: "I thank God and Saint James the Apostle for bringing me back to life, for allowing me to be here, for allowing me to tell my experience."
Aware that her recovery is of international interest, she asked that people allow her to recover and "live peacefully".
Romero was infected while treating Spanish missionaries Miguel Pajares and Manuel García Viejo for Ebola. Pajares was the first European victim of the Ebola outbreak raging across West Africa. He caught the virus while serving at a Catholic-run hospita in Liberia and died five days after being flown back to Madrid for treatment.
García Viejo was a medical director of the Hospital Order of San Juan de Dios and was working in the western Sierra Leonean city of Lunsar when he contracted Ebola. He died days after being repatriated to Spain for specialist treatment.
Romero said she did not know if she had done something wrong in treating them that caused her to catch Ebola, but continued by saying that she felt no resentment about being infected with it and was ready to help if she could in the study of the disease and finding a cure, including donating her own blood to other Ebola sufferers.
However, she was still pained by the decision of Spanish officials to put down her pet dog, Excalibur, because they believed him to be a public health risk. Her husband, Javier Limon, read out a statement on her behalf which said the dog had been "executed".
Romero was declared free of Ebola on October 19.
Nina Pham, a US nurse infected with Ebola while treating Eric Thomas Duncan, who subsequently died from the virus. She also had a dog but was reunited with him this week after he was released from quarantine.
Upon her full recovery from the virus, Pham also thanked God and hospital staff for helping her get better.
"Throughout this ordeal, I have put my trust in God and my medical team. I am on my way back to recovery, even as I reflect on how many others have not been so fortunate," said Pham after her release from hospital.
"I do not know how I can ever thank you – everyone – enough for their prayers and their expressions of concern, hope and love."
