EBOLA VIRUS - Ebola Patient Dr. Kent Brantley Says 'God Saved My Life'

Ebola Patient Dr. Kent Brantley Says 'God Saved My Life'

Aug 21, 2014, 11:05 AM ET

By COLLEEN CURRY

COLLEEN CURRYMore From Colleen »

Reporter

 via GOOD MORNING AMERICA

Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantley have been cured of the Ebola virus and released from Emory Hospital in Atlanta.

Brantly called his recovery "a miraculous day."

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

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

Both patients were given blood and urine tests to determine whether they still had the virus, and Writebol left the hospital Tuesday. Brantley, 33, was released today.

“After a rigorous course of treatment and testing, the Emory Healthcare team has determined that both patients have recovered from the Ebola virus and can return to their families and community without concern for spreading this infection to others,” Dr. Bruce Ribner, director of Emory’s Infectious Disease Unit, said in a statement released today.

Writebol's husband said in the statement that Writebol left the hospital in a "significantly weakened condition."

Brantley is expected to give a statement today.

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

Brantly is slated to speak at a press conference today, with an update about Writebol also planned.

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

According to reports, Brantly’s condition deteriorated so quickly that doctors in Africa decided to give him the drug in a last-ditch effort to save him.

Courtesy Samaritans Purse

PHOTO: Dr. Kent Brantly speaks with a worker outside the ELWA Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia

Brantly’s condition started to improve dramatically within an hour after getting the serum, according to Samaritan’s Purse, but it’s unclear if the improvement was directly related to the medication. After his health stabilized, Brantly was evacuated on a specially outfitted plane to Atlanta in early August to the hospital isolation ward.

Courtesy Jeremy Writebol/AP Photo

PHOTO: This Oct. 7, 2013 photo provided by Jeremy Writebol shows his mother, Nancy Writebol, with children in Liberia.

Writebol, 59, also survived after getting the serum.

The virus has killed at least 1,229 and sickened 1,011 more, according to numbers released Tuesday by the World Health Organization. Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have the most cases.

With reporting by ABC's Sydney Lupkin.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/