Ebola survivor urges help for countries struggling with virus

Dr Kent Brantly, one of few Ebola survivors with medical expertise, has pleaded for help for countries still struggling with the virus.

Ebola survivor urges help for countries struggling with virus

Dr Kent Brantly, one of few Ebola survivors with medical expertise, has pleaded for help for countries still struggling with the virus.

He made his first public appearance before leaving Emory University Hospital, where he and a medical missionary colleague spent three weeks in an isolation unit as they recovered.

“I am forever thankful to God for sparing my life and am glad for any attention my sickness has attracted to the plight of West Africa in the midst of this epidemic,” Dr Brantly said.

“Please continue to pray for Liberia and the people of West Africa, and encourage those in positions of leadership and influence to do everything possible to bring this Ebola outbreak to an end,” he added.

Then he hugged all the doctors and nurses at the news conference, a very public display of affection telegraphing the message that Ebola survivors are not contagious.

With the world watching, Dr Brantly could continue sending these messages from the United States or even return to Africa.

Dr Bruce Ribner, who runs Emory’s infectious disease unit, said he would not discourage an Ebola survivor from treating others with the disease, since they have effectively been vaccinated against this strain and there is no danger of a relapse.

“There would be no concerns and in fact the likelihood is we would anticipate immunity to this virus so that they would probably not be at risk for infection if they were caring for patients with Ebola virus disease during this outbreak,” he said.

The same goes for Nancy Writebol, Dr Brantly’s missionary colleague, who was quietly released on Tuesday. They are effectively vaccinated against the current strain of the Ebola virus, should recover completely and no one should fear being in contact with them, Dr Ribner said.

Dr Brantly said: “My family and I will now be going away for a period of time to reconnect, decompress and continue to recover physically and emotionally.

“After I have recovered a little more and regained some of my strength, we will look forward to sharing more of our story.”

Dr Brantly was visibly thinner than he appeared in an image circulated earlier by his charity organisation, the North Carolina-based Samaritan’s Purse.

Ms Writebol’s son, Jeremy Writebol, said his mother is able to move around, eat and drink normally. His parents are considering their next steps, he said.

After Dr Brantly, 33, and Ms Writebol, 59, were infected while working with Ebola victims in Liberia, their charity organisations, Samaritan’s Purse and SIM, asked 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 De Brantly and Ms Writebol split the doses before being evacuated to Atlanta.

The other four were later given to a Spanish priest, who died, and three doctors in Africa, who have been improving.

Dr Brantly’s doctors cautioned that it is unclear whether the drug or a blood transfusion he got from a young Ebola survivor in Africa helped, hurt or made no difference at all.

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

The treatment of these two Americans may already lead to better care for Ebola patients anywhere. For example, their doctors now believe common fluid-replacement measures may need more nutrients to help patients recover.

Emory’s team has begun sharing its findings with other doctors and hopes to publish in a medical journal.

At least 2,473 people have been ill during this outbreak – more than the caseloads of all the previous two-dozen Ebola outbreaks combined, according to the World Health Organisation.

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