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Ebola-Stricken Doc 'Glad' to Be Home, Walked Into Hospital

Emory called one of safest places in world to treat Dr Kent Brantly
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 3, 2014 7:42 AM CDT
Ebola-Stricken Doc 'Glad' to Be Home, Walked Into Hospital
Dr. Kent Brantly is shown in this 2013 photo provided by JPS Health Network.   (AP Photo/JPS Health Network)

Kent Brantly, who arrived yesterday as the first person in America carrying Ebola, walked into Emory University Hospital under his own power. "It was a relief to welcome Kent home today," said his wife, Amber, in a statement. "I spoke with him, and he is glad to be back in the US. I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital." What happens next is largely up to Brantly's own immune system, notes the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. There's no treatment for Ebola, and all doctors at Emory can do is keep Brantly hydrated and strong enough to fight the virus. "We just have to keep the patient alive long enough in order for the body to control this infection," says one doctor.

What won't happen next is an outbreak of Ebola on US soil, experts tell the AP, adding that Emory is one of the best and safest places on the planet to treat the deadly virus. The hospital's infectious diseases unit is state of the art and has treated worse than Ebola; in 2005 it handled SARS patients, notes USA Today. That hasn't stopped a slew of "nasty emails" and 100 or so calls to the CDC, says its director, questioning why the agency brought Brantly stateside to begin with—and noting the CDC's shaky track record of late. "I hope that our understandable fear of the unfamiliar does not trump our compassion when ill Americans return to the US for care," says Dr. Tom Frieden. (More Ebola stories.)

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