An American medical doctor, Dr. Kent Brantly and another aid worker , Nancy Writebol have been discharged from the quarantine unit of the Emory University Hospital, United States of America on Thursday.
Brantly and Writebol, who were infected with the Ebola virus while volunteering to treat infected patients in Liberia, have been certified virus-free by experts at the hospital.
They are the first Americans to survive Ebola.They were also the first patients to have received the experimental Ebola serum, ZMapp, a drug that may have saved their lives.
Nigeria has also discharged five Ebola patients this week. They were however managed with routine drugs available in the country.
The Director, Emory’s Infectious Disease Unit, Dr. Bruce Ribner, in a statement according to the CNN on Thursday, stated that they are now free to go to their normal lives, as they pose no threat of infection to the public.
An elated Brantly at a news conference on Thursday said, “Today is a miraculous day. I am thrilled to be alive, to be well and to be reunited with my family.”
Ribner said at the news conference,
“We are tremendously pleased with Dr. Brantly and Mrs. Writebol’s recovery.
“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.”
-Punch
