(Bloomberg) -- Craig Spencer, the New York City doctor whocontracted Ebola while treating patients in Guinea, will bereleased from Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan and is free ofthe virus.

“Dr. Spencer is a real hero,” Mayor Bill de Blasio toldreporters at Gracie Mansion last night. “Here’s a guy who wenttoward danger, went to where the need was greatest in the wholeworld.

“You’re going to see him back on his feet, entirely in health.I’m sure he’s a little weakened from the experience, but entirelyhealthy and ready to go.”

Spencer, 33, is to appear at a news conference this morning withthe mayor and city health officials. He served as a volunteer withDoctors Without Borders, an aid group that has sent medicalprofessionals to fight the outbreak at its West African source. Hefell ill on Oct. 23, six days after returning to New York from theoutbreak zone, and was rushed to Bellevue and put in a specialisolation unit.

About nine hours later, officials confirmed the infection. Histreatment included brincidofovir, an experimental drug made byChimerix Inc., as well as a blood transfusion from another Ebolasurvivor, which can boost virus-fighting antibodies in apatient.

Doctor Restored

“Dr. Spencer poses no public health risk,” the city’s Health andHospitals Corporation said in an e-mail yesterday. He received a“rigorous course of treatment and testing,” the agency said.

Spencer’s fiancee remains under quarantine at home until Nov.14. Two of Spencer’s friends who had been quarantined have sincebeen released.

Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who died from Ebola onOct. 8 in Dallas, is the only death from the disease in the U.S.Seven other Ebola patients treated at various American hospitalshave survived. They include two Dallas nurses infected by Duncan,several American aid workers and a TV cameraman who got sick inWest Africa and were flown home.

The Ebola outbreak, concentrated in Liberia, Guinea and SierraLeone, has infected more than 13,000 worldwide and killed more than4,800, according to the World Health Organization. There is noapproved cure for the disease. Current standard care involvessupporting the patient and using antibiotics to fight off secondaryinfections.

Bellevue Refitted

Bellevue, the oldest continuously operating hospital in theU.S., is one of eight hospitals designated by New York State asgo-to centers to care for a potential Ebola patient. The midtownfacility had upgraded its infectious disease unit in the weeksbefore Spencer was admitted in preparation for a case like his.

The isolation rooms were fitted with separate air managementsystems and a power supply that permits the use of specializedlife-support equipment, and a new laboratory was built so bloodsamples wouldn’t have to be transported to the hospital’s regularlaboratory.

Spencer had ventured around the city soon before he was drivento the hospital with Ebola symptoms. He rode the subway, ate at ameatball restaurant and visited a bowling alley. In the days afterhe went to Bellevue, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention toughened its guidelines for people with direct exposureto the virus, saying they should be isolated in their homes for 21days.

--With assistance from Henry Goldman in New York.

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