News

American missionaries with Ebola expected to return to U.S. next week

Hilary Trenda and Tim Funk

08/01/2014

Aug. 01--The medical evacuation of two Americans who have contracted Ebola while working in Liberia won't be complete until early next week, officials said Friday.

Charlotte missionary Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly of Boone-based Samaritan's Purse have contracted the deadly virus and media reports on Thursday said they were being evacuated by a U.S.-contracted medical charter flight that left from Cartersville, Ga.

Samaritan's Purse confirmed Friday the evacuation of Writebol and Brantly is underway, as is the evacuation of 60 non-essential Samaritan's Purse and SIM (Serving in Mission) staff and dependents in Liberia, the organization said in a statement. SIM, a Charlotte-based missionary group, partners with Samaritan's Purse and sent the Writebol and her husband to Liberia.

At least one of the two patients apparently will be taken to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, near the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Officials with Emory said Friday they had been told that an Ebola patient would be transferred to its special containment unit in the next several days, but they did not know when the patient would arrive, according to a statement posted to Emory's website.

It was unclear which of the two Americans would be taken to Emory and where the other one would be taken and treated. Writebol and her husband, David, are members of Calvary Church in Charlotte; Brantly and his family live in Texas.

SIM announced Thursday that Writebol's condition has worsened.

Writebol, who learned last week that she had contracted Ebola, "is in stable, but serious condition and is receiving an experimental drug that doctors hope will better address her condition," SIM said.

Samaritan's Purse, a Christian charity that partners with SIM at the hospital compound in Monrovia where the Writebols work, announced Thursday that Brantly "took a slight turn for the worse" and was in "stable but grave condition."

The charity also said that Brantly, 33, requested that the experimental drug -- a serum -- that arrived in Liberia on Wednesday be given to Writebol, 59. There was only enough for one person, Samaritan's Purse said.

But, in a statement, Graham said that "Dr. Brantly received a unit of blood from a 14-year-old boy who had survived Ebola because of Dr. Brantly's care. The young boy and his family wanted to be able to help the doctor that saved his life."