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US EBOLA SURVIVOR RECALLS RELIEF AT KNOWING HIS FAMILY WERE FAR AWAY WHEN HE WAS DIAGNOSED

4th September, 2014

Ebola survivor Dr Kent Brantly has told of his relief that his family were back in the US when he was diagnosed with the disease while working in Liberia in late July.

The family of the US missionary – his wife Amber and their two children – had left the country three days before. “I was so thankful that Amber and the kids were not there," he told NBC journalist Matt Lauer in an interview which aired this week – the first since his release from hospital. "Yeah, I wanted to be close to them. But that gave me great relief, knowing they were gone three days before I had any symptoms."

Dr Brantly, 33, had been doing missionary aid work for Samaritan’s Purse when he was diagnosed with the virus along with another aid worker, 59-year-old Nancy Writebol, who was working for Serving in Mission (SIM). Both were subsequently flown back to the US and were given an experimental drug ZMapp. Both have since been released from hospital.

"I felt like I was about to die," Dr Brantly recalled but noted that throughout the crisis he never lost faith. “Right now I still have a lot of recovering to do,” he said. “I know I look well but I am still pretty weak.”

When he spoke to NBC earlier this week, Dr Brantly said he had just been notified that another American, a colleague to whom he was "very close", had been infected with the virus. "I spent a good long while tearful, in prayer".

Meanwhile Ms Writebol told NBC in a later interview that she didn’t remember feeling afraid after the diagnosis. “I don”t think I was being brave. Looking back, I just think it had to be the peace of the Lord. There was no fear.”

The death toll from the Ebola virus in West Africa has now topped 1,500.

– DAVID ADAMS

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