The US state of Maine has reached an agreement with a nurse who was briefly quarantined after treating victims of Ebola in West Africa.

Kaci Hickox has tested negative for Ebola twice and has no symptoms, but Maine officials went to court to try to bar her from crowded public places.

The deal complies with Friday's ruling by a judge that she should be free to travel but must monitor her health.

Only one person in the US is currently being treated for Ebola in New York.

"I am not going to sit around and be bullied around by politicians and be forced to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public," said Ms Hickox.

Ms Hickox travelled to Sierra Leone with the Doctors Without Borders medical charity when the outbreak erupted.

Upon her return to New Jersey on 24 October she was quarantined in a tent outside a hospital in the city for the weekend despite not showing any symptoms.

The following Monday she was released to return to Maine where she was monitored at her boyfriend's house in Fort Kent.

Fears of infection

The recent infection of a doctor in New York who had returned from Guinea has sparked a debate in the US over isolation policies for healthcare workers who have been from West Africa.

Dr Craig Spencer had travelled on the subway and been bowling the night before he developed a fever, which is the point when people become contagious.

The governors of New York and New Jersey introduced mandatory quarantines as a result.

The mayor of New York however, took steps to try to quell ears of contagion by following in Dr Spencer's footsteps.

Mayor Bill de Blasio rode the subways, had dinner at The Meatball Shop restaurant where Dr Spencer ate and visited Bellevue Hospital Center's isolation chamber.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has warned against "unnecessarily" strict restrictions on healthcare workers returning from West Africa, saying that their efforts were critical in the fight against the outbreak.

BBC