American Ebola doctor released from hospital, ‘thrilled to be alive’

Associated Press

ATLANTA

Calling it a “miraculous day,” an American doctor infected with Ebola left his isolation unit and warmly hugged his doctors and nurses Thursday, showing the world that he poses no public-health threat one month after getting sick with the virus.

Dr. Kent Brantly and his fellow medical missionary, Nancy Writebol, who was quietly discharged two days earlier, still are weak but should recover completely, and no one need fear being in contact with them, said Dr. Bruce Ribner, who runs the infectious disease unit at Emory University Hospital.

Dr. Brantly’s reappearance was festive and celebratory, a stark contrast to his arrival in an ambulance under police escort three weeks earlier, when he shuffled into the hospital wearing a bulky white hazardous-materials suit.

“I am thrilled to be alive, to be well and to be reunited with my family,” Dr. Brantly said, choking up as he read a written statement. Then he and his wife turned and hugged a parade of doctors and nurses, hugging or shaking hands with each one. For some, it was their first direct contact without protective gear.

After Dr. Brantly, 33, and Writebol, 59, were infected while working with Ebola victims in Liberia, their charity organizations, Samaritan’s Purse and SIM, reached out to top infectious-disease experts for help.

Working connections, they obtained one of only five courses available worldwide of an experimental drug known as Zmapp, and Dr. Brantly and Writebol split the doses before being evacuated to Atlanta. The other four later were given to a Spanish priest, who died, and three doctors in Africa, who have been improving.

Writebol’s son, Jeremy Writebol of Wichita, spent two weeks at the hospital with her, but he left Tuesday morning.

“I haven’t given her a hug yet; I am anxious to do that, but we are waiting for the right time and for her to be able to be with us,” he said in a telephone interview.

His mother is able to move around, eat and drink normally. “It is better than what she expected,” he said, adding that his parents are considering their next steps.

Dr. Brantly didn’t take questions at the news conference, but he did briefly describe how they confronted Ebola in Liberia. He said aid workers had begun “preparing for the worst” after learning of the outbreak in March, and saw their first patient in June. Soon, many more arrived.

He said his team took all the precautions they could. After his wife and children returned to the U.S. for a family wedding, he focused on work, moving patients to a bigger isolation unit. Three days later, he woke up feeling sick and was diagnosed with the disease.

“As I lay in my bed in Liberia for the following nine days, getting sicker and weaker each day, I prayed that God would help me to be faithful even in my illness,” Dr. Brantly said. “Through the care of the Samaritan’s Purse and SIM missionary team in Liberia, the use of an experimental drug, and the expertise and resources of the health care team at Emory University Hospital, God saved my life.”

His doctors cautioned that it’s unclear whether the drug or a blood transfusion Dr. Brantly got from a young Ebola survivor in Africa was helpful.

“Experimental means exactly that. They are the very first individuals to have received this treatment, and frankly, we do not know,” Dr. Ribner said.

Dr. Brantly and Writebol were discharged after their medical team made sure they won’t infect others. Their blood tested clean of the virus, which is spread only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of sick people experiencing symptoms. Ebola survivors generally are not contagious once they’ve recovered.