Ebola infected doctor is 'stronger everyday'

Atlanta, Aug 9: An American doctor infected with Ebola who was brought back to the US from Africa and is being treated at a hospital and has said that he is getting better.

"I am growing stronger everyday, and I thank God for his mercy as I have wrestled with this terrible disease," Kent Brantly, a doctor, said in a statement released Friday by Samaritan's Purse, the international Christian humanitarian organisation he was working for in Liberia.

Brantly was flown back to the US last week from the African country to be treated for the deadly virus, making him the first Ebola patient in the US.

"I am writing this update from my isolation room at Emory University Hospital, where the doctors and nurses are providing the very best care possible," the 33-year-old physician said.

Also hospitalised in isolation at Emory is Nancy Writebol, who was infected with Ebola at the same medical centre where Brantly had worked in Liberia.

Writebol was flown into the US last Tuesday.

"I also want to extend my deep and sincere thanks to all of you who have been praying for my recovery as well as for Nancy and for the people of Liberia and West Africa," Brantly said.

The condition of both the patients improved after they were given an experimental serum, never before used on humans, before travelling to the US.

The Ebola outbreak affecting Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, is the worst ever and to date has caused 961 deaths, according to figures of the World Health Organisation.

IANS