Ebola: American Doctors Discharged After Positive Response To ZMapp, “Thrilled To Be Alive”
Two American doctors who contracted Ebola after treating victims of the deadly virus in Liberia have been released from a U.S. hospital where they were flown to three weeks ago with the hopes of saving their lives.
Official’s at Atlanta, Georgia’s Emory University Hospital, said on Thursday that Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol had been discharged after making a full recovery after receiving the ZMapp, the experimental drug.
During a pres conference at Emory Hospital, 33 year old Brantly said he was thrilled to be alive.
Dr Kent Brantly, 33, thanked supporters for their prayers. The outbreak has killed more than 1,300 people in West Africa, with many of the deaths occurring in Liberia and five deaths in Nigeria.
“Today is a miraculous day,” said Dr Brantly, who appeared healthy as he addressed reporters on Thursday at Emory University hospital.
“I am thrilled to be alive, to be well, and to be reunited with my family. As a medical missionary, I never imagined myself in this position.”
He said Ebola “was not on the radar” when he and his family moved to Liberia in October.
After his family returned to the US as the Ebola outbreak tore through West Africa, he continued to treat Ebola patients and woke up on 23 July feeling “under the weather”.
Dr Brantly said he lay in bed for nine days, getting progressively sicker and weaker. On 1 August, he was flown to Atlanta for treatment at Emory.
Emory infectious disease specialist Dr Bruce Ribner said after rigorous treatment and testing officials were confident Dr Brantly had recovered “and he can return to his family, his community and his life without public health concerns”.
The group for which he was working in Liberia, Samaritan’s Purse, said they were celebrating his recovery.
“Today I join all of our Samaritan’s Purse team around the world in giving thanks to God as we celebrate Dr Kent Brantly’s recovery from Ebola and release from the hospital,” Franklin Graham said in a statement.
The hospital said it would hold a news conference to discuss Brantly’s case and that of a second American, Nancy Writebol, being treated there with ZMapp.
Mapp, the supplier of the drugs has said that the drugs have been exhausted due to high demand.
Samaritan’s President Franklin Graham said Brantly would leave Emory hospital after the news conference.
“I have marveled at Brantly’s courageous spirit as he has fought this horrible virus with the help of the highly competent and caring staff at Emory University Hospital.
“We have more than 350 staff in Liberia, and others will soon be joining them, so please pray for those who have served with Brantly ,’’he added.
Graham said the other doctors, aid workers and organisations that are at this very moment desperately trying to stop Ebola from taking any more lives, should also be put into prayers.
Brantly and Nancy Writebol were flown out of Liberia earlier this month and have been getting treatment for the deadly disease in an isolation unit at the hospital.
The two were infected while working at a missionary clinic outside Liberia’s capital. (Reuters /NAN)
Via BBC News