American Ebola patients discharged from hospital

ATLANTA

The two American Ebola victims who were airlifted to a medical facility in the US have been discharged.

Speaking to journalists in Atlanta moments after the second victim, Dr. Kent Brantly, was discharged from Emory Hospital in Atlanta on Thursday, the director of Emory’s Infectious Disease Unit, Dr. Bruce Ribner, said the institution was confident that the two were “cured of the Ebola virus and were good to go home.”

The other patent, Nancy Writebol, was discharged on Tuesday.

"After a rigorous course of treatment and testing we have determined, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and state health departments, that Brantley has recovered from the Ebola Virus Disease and he can return to his family, to his community, and to his life without any public health concerns," said Dr. Bruce Ribner.

HAPPY TO BE ALIVE

Brantly, 33, called his recovery "a miraculous day."

"I am thrilled to be alive, to be well, and reunited with my family," he said.

He also told a news conference at Emory Hospital that "God saved my life."

Doctors at Emory Hospital released a statement saying both patients were given blood and urine tests to determine whether they still had the virus.

Dr Brantly said Ms Writebol had asked him to speak on her behalf at the press conference and “express gratitude for prayers on her behalf.”

"When she walked out of the room, all she could say was ‘To God be the glory,’" Dr Brantly said of Ms Writebol. "Nancy and her husband are now spending some much needed time together," he added.

ZMAPP

Dr Brantly contracted the deadly virus while working in a Liberian Ebola ward with the aid agency Samaritan’s Purse. He was evacuated to the US earlier this month along with Ms Writebol.

Dr Brantly is the first-ever Ebola patient to be treated in the US and the first human to receive the experimental serum known as ZMapp.

Medical personnel said Dr Brantly’s condition deteriorated so quickly that doctors in Africa decided to give him the drug in a last-ditch effort to save him.

Both of them were evacuated from Liberia earlier this month in a plane specially equipped with an isolation tent and accompanied by medical staff outfitted in head-to-foot protective clothing.