Ebola virus: American doctor with deadly disease 'is improving' after arriving back on U.S. soil

By Piers Eady

 

Dr Kent Brantly, 33, arrived at a special isolation ward in Atlanta last night and was seen walking from an ambulance

Dr. Kent Brantly speaks with colleagues at the case management center on the campus of ELWA Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia

An American doctor brought back to the US after catching the deadly Ebola virus while in Liberia is improving, heath officials have said.

Dr Kent Brantly, 33, is being treated in a special isolation ward in Atlanta and was able to walk with help from an ambulance.

The father-of-two is being treated by infectious disease specialists at Emory University Hospital.

Dr Tom Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, said: “It’s encouraging that he seems to be improving - that’s really important - and we’re hoping he’ll continue to improve.”

Dr Frieden said it was too soon to tell whether or not Dr Brantly would survive, but said it was unlikely his wife and children had contracted the disease.

Dr Brantly, who works for the North Carolina-based Christian organization Samaritan’s Purse, had been in Liberia responding to the worst Ebola outbreak on record when he contracted the disease.

Nancy Writebol, a second US aid worker who contracted the illness while working at the same place as Dr Brantly, is expected to arrive in Atlanta later this week.