Dr. Kent Brantly, the Fort Worth doctor who contracted Ebola while serving in Liberia with Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, has been released from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where he has been since August 2.
“Today is a miraculous day,” Brantly said during an August 21 news conference, with his wife, Amber, by his side. “I'm thrilled to be alive, to be well and to be reunited with my family.
“God saved my life — a direct answer to thousands and thousands of prayers.”
Brantly and fellow American missionary Nancy Writebol were being treated in an isolation unit set up in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Writebol was released on August 19.
Dr. Bruce Ribner, medical director for the Emory Hospital Infectious Disease Unit, said Brantly and Writebol pose no public health threat, and he and his staff are “tremendously pleased” with their recovery. “We are profoundly grateful for the opportunity to have applied our training our care and our experience to meeting their needs.
“What we learned in caring for them will help advance the world’s understanding of how to treat Ebola virus infections and help, hopefully, to improve survival in parts of the world where patients with this infection are treated.”
Brantly, who completed his residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, tested positive for Ebola while serving as medical director for the Samaritan’s Purse Ebola Consolidated Case Management Center in Monrovia. Both Brantly and Writebol received a dose of an experimental serum while still in Liberia.
Brantly made a statement but took no questions, instead requesting some privacy for himself and his family as he continues his recovery.
“My family and I will now be going away for a period of time, to reconnect, decompress, and to continue to recover physically and emotionally,” he said. “After I have recovered a little more and regained some of my strength, we will look forward to sharing more of our story.
“But for now, we need some time together, after more than a month apart. We appreciate having the opportunity to spend some time in private before talking to some of you who have expressed an interest in hearing more of our journey. Thank you for granting us that.”
Dr. Kent Brantly and his wife, Amber, on the day of his release from Emory Hospital in Atlanta.
