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Read the press release here.

Dr. Craig Spencer Released From Bellevue After Beating Ebola

By  Trevor Kapp and Aidan Gardiner | November 11, 2014 10:26am | Updated on November 11, 2014 6:21pm

 Dr. Craig Spencer was released from Bellevue Hospital Wednesday less than three weeks after being diagnosed with Ebola.
Ebola Patient Dr. Craig Spencer Released From Bellevue Hospital
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KIPS BAY — Dr. Craig Spencer, the first New Yorker to contract the deadly Ebola virus after a trip to Guinea, was released from Bellevue Hospital Tuesday morning and returned home with a clean bill of health following a weekslong battle with the disease, officials said.

His fiancée, Morgan Dixon, was also released from quarantine later in the day. Dixon will "be subject to direct active monitoring," and "poses no public health threat and is showing no symptoms," according to a statement from the city Health Department.

During his release, a beaming Spencer, who had the first and only case of Ebola in New York City, hugged Mayor Bill de Blasio and Dr. Laura Evans, who helped save his life and several other healthcare workers.

"I am immensely thankful for all of the encouragement and support that I have received from my family, so many friends, and complete strangers over the past few weeks," said Spencer, 33, who was joined at the event by his parents.

Spencer turned attention back to West Africa, where his colleagues were on the front lines of the fight against the virus, which has killed thousands.

"My Guinean colleagues, who have been on the front lines since day one and saw friends and family members die, continue to fight to save their communities with so much compassion and dignity," he said.

"They are the heroes that we are not talking about."

Spencer, 33, who lives in Harlem with his fiancee, contracted the virus after a five-week trip to Guéckédou, Guinea, where he volunteered with Doctors Without Borders in an effort to contain the epidemic.

He was declared free of the virus after receiving weeks of treatment and despite his condition worsening at one point, health officials said. Neighbors tied welcoming balloons on his apartment's front gate shortly before Spencer returned hom Tuesday morning.

"Dr. Spencer is Ebola free and New York City is Ebola free," the mayor said.

During his treatment, overseen by Dr. Evans, Spencer was given plasma and antiviral treatments as his illness advanced and eventually abated, officials said.

Spencer said he was sustained by friends and family during his treatment.

Pals brought him his banjo which he played when he could and some Ebola patients he had treated in West Africa called his personal phone to to wish him well and offer any help they could, he said.

Spencer returned to New York on Oct. 17 and was admitted to Bellevue Hospital with a 100.3 degree fever six days later.

His case sparked fears because officials revealed that he visited the Meatball Shop in Greenwich Village, The High Line, his Hamilton Heights CSA and Williamsburg bowling alley The Gutter, officials said. All of the locations were cleared.

Spencer's fiancée, and two friends with whom he bowled were also quarantined, officials said. 

The friends had previously been released from quarantine, officials said.

It was not immediately clear if or when Spencer would return to work at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia, where he served as a fellow in emergency medicine.

City healthcare workers said they expected Ebola to affect New York and had been rigorously preparing when Spencer tested positive.

Once Spencer tested positive, officials tried to reassure New Yorkers that his infection would not spread while heightening security procedures in the Tri-State area.

During the Tuesday press conference, the mayor and city healthcare leaders thanked Spencer and others who volunteer to treat Ebola patients both at home and abroad.

"It is a good feeling to hug a hero, and we have a hero here in our midst, someone who served others no matter how much danger. He has been an inspiration," de Blasio said during the press conference.

They also said that any stigma against such workers wouldn't be tolerated.

"Volunteers need to be supported to help fight this outbreak at its source," Spencer said.

"Please join me in turning our attention back to West Africa, and ensuring that medical volunteers and other aid workers do not face stigma and threats upon their return home."

Govs. Cuomo and Chris Christie drew fire when they forced quarantines on all airline passengers returning from West African countries who had contact with Ebola patients.

The first person quarantined, Kaci Hickox, stirred controversy when officials incorrectly thought she had a high fever and isolated her in a Newark hospital with only a portable toilet and no shower, the New York Times reported.

She was eventually released.

The quarantines were replaced with active monitoring for those who returned from affected countries.

Spencer and health leaders applauded the precautions the government has taken as necessary to prevent Ebola's spread in the United States.

"I am a living example of how those protocols work, and of how early detection and isolation is critical to both surviving Ebola and ensuring that it is not transmitted to others," Spencer said.

— Additional reporting by Radhika Marya