Brantly said.
The hospital had announced that he was being discharged on Thursday.
The other patient, Nancy Writebol, was released on Tuesday and she chose not to make public comments, the hospital said.Emory’s staff, according to CNN, is confident that their discharges pose “no public health threat.” Dr. Bruce Ribner, director of Emory’s Infectious Disease Unit, added that Writebol requested her discharge not be publicly announced at the time.As she walked out of her isolation room, Writebol said, “To God be the glory,” Brantly said at the news conference.
“We are tremendously pleased with Dr. Brantly and Mrs. Writebol’s recovery,” Ribner said.“What we learned in caring for them will help advance the world’s understanding of how to treat Ebola infections and help, hopefully, to improve survival” in other parts of the world, Ribner said at the news conference.“There may be some recovery time because this is a fairly devastating disease,” but in general, patients without organ damage are expected to “make a complete recovery,” he said.There is strong epidemiological evidence that after an Ebola patient survives the disease, the survivor becomes immune to that particular strain of Ebola, Ribner told reporters Thursday.Both patients were evacuated from Liberia this month, in a plane specially equipped with an isolation tent, and accompanied by medical staff outfitted in head-to-foot protective clothing. The plane was able to take only one patient at a time and made two trips. The patients were taken to an isolation unit at Emory.Asked about the role that an experimental serum played in the recoveries, Ribner said doctors “do not know whether it helped them, whether it made no difference,” or whether it might have delayed their recovery.
Ribner said he also did not know whether Brantly was helped by a blood transfusion he received from a young Ebola survivor in Liberia.God saved my life, Dr Brantly speaks after leaving hospitalAmerican Ebola patient, Dr Kent Brantly, beamed with delight, on Thursday, as he thanked God for sparing his life and prepared to leave hospital after being declared free of the deadly disease.The American missionary doctor, according to MailOnline, looked a little frail but healthy as he gripped the hand of his wife, Amber, amid a large medical team at a Emory University Hospital press conference in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.The 33-year-old said: “Today is a miraculous day. I am thrilled to be alive, to be well and to be reunited with my family.”He thanked God for saving his life, saying that the thousands of prayers which had been said for him around the world, had been answered. He also gave credit to the experimental drug he received after his health deteriorated.“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, a direct answer to thousands and thousands of prayers,” the doctor said.The doctor, originally from Texas, said that he had moved with his family to Liberia in West Africa because God called on him to work there.“When my family and I moved to Liberia two years ago, Ebola was not on the radar. We moved to Liberia because God called us to service in Liberia,” he said.
As the Ebola outbreak began to spread across West Africa this year, Dr Brantly said his medical staff in Liberia took every precaution against the disease, which has a 90 per cent mortality rate.Dr Brantly said: “When we received our first Ebola patient, we were ready… we took every precaution to protect ourselves from this disease, including following MSF (Doctors Without Borders) and WHO (World Health Organisation) guidelines.”With the health risks in Liberia becoming more serious, the doctor sent his wife and two young children home to the U.S. in July. The following day, the doctor said, he woke up knowing that something was wrong.Dr Brantly said: “On Wednesday July 23, I woke up feeling under the weather and then my life took an unexpected turn as I was diagnosed with the Ebola virus disease.“As I lay in bed getting sicker and weaker, each day I prayed that God would help me be faithful in my illness.“I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and your support, but what I can tell you is that I serve a God who answers prayers. God saved my life, a direct answer to thousands and thousands of prayers.”The doctor thanked a long list of people that he credited for his recovery. He became emotional as he expressed deep gratitude to the Emory medical team who had cared for him in the quarantine unit., saying: “I will not forget you.”
He also thanked the missionary medical organisation, Samaritan’s Purse, for whom he worked in Liberia.He also said: “I want to thank Samaritan’s Purse, who has taken care of me and my family as if I was their own family.”His colleague, Nancy Writebol, 59, was released on Tuesday from Emory. She did not want to make a public statement but asked that Dr Brantly convey her gratitude to medical staff and those who had prayed for her.Dr Brantly said: “As (Nancy) walked out of her isolation room, all she could say was ‘To God to be glory.’’Dr Bruce Ribner, director of Emory’s Infectious Disease Unit, also spoke at Emory on Thursday.He said: “We are tremendously pleased with Dr. Brantly and Mrs. Writebol’s recovery” adding that they posed no public health risk.Dr Ribner added: “What we learned in caring for them will help advance the world’s understanding of how to treat Ebola infections and help, hopefully, to improve survival.”Dr Brantley contracted Ebola while treating gravely ill patients in Liberia. Doctors reported on Thursday, that his blood tests had come back negative for the disease.Both Americans had been given a dose of the experimental Ebola drug, ZMapp.
It is a remarkable turn around for Dr Brantly as according to reports, the doctor’s condition had deteriorated so rapidly in Africa that doctors decided to give him experimental drug ZMapp as a last attempt to save his life.Within an hour of getting receiving the drug, Dr Brantly’s health improved but it is unclear whether it was because of the medication.Dr Brantly initially passed himself over in order for his colleague Mrs Writebol to get some of the experimental serum.Once he was in a stable condition, he was evacuated from the west African nation in a specially-equipped plane to the U.S.He was pictured walking, with two medical workers for support, out of an ambulance in a fully-protective hazmat suit on August 2.His health has gone from strength to strength at the pioneering medical center. In the statement last week, Brantly expressed gratitude for the health care professionals treating him with ‘compassionate, world-class care,’ adding he is ‘more grateful every day to the Lord for sparing my life’.Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, said in a statement that Brantly has recovered.
‘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,” the statement read.
“Over the past few weeks, I have marveled at Dr. 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.
“His faithfulness to God and compassion for the people of Africa have been an example to us all.”
The doctor was given ZMapp, a trial drug used on a handful of patients in the West African outbreak, and flown to the U.S. earlier this month.Mrs Writebol was also taken to Emory University Hospital after being flown out of Liberia three days after Dr. Brantly and once her condition had stabilised.Mrs Writebol was reunited with her husband earlier this week – through the glass of her isolation room.
In a statement, David Writebol said: “I have had the great joy to be able to look through the isolation room glass and see my beautiful wife again. We both placed our hands on opposite sides of the glass, moved with tears to look at each other again.”The two were infected while working at a missionary clinic outside Liberia’s capital.The Ebola outbreak has killed 1,350 people and counting across West Africa with Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia reporting the highest outbreaks.The disease is only spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of sick people experiencing symptoms and has a 90 per cent mortality rate.On Wednesday in Liberia, slum residents clashed with riot police and soldiers who used scrap wood and barbed wire to seal off 50,000 people inside the slum in an effort to contain the outbreak.The World Health Organisation said the death toll is rising most quickly in Liberia, which now accounts for at least 576 of the fatalities.At least 2,473 people have been sickened across West Africa, which is now more than the caseloads of all the previous two-dozen Ebola outbreaks combined.