One of the two Americans being treated for the Ebola virus in the US said he is “growing stronger every day” in a letter released on Friday.  “I am growing stronger every day, and I thank God for his mercy as I have wrestled with this terrible disease,” Dr Kent Brantly wrote from his isolation room at Emory University hospital in Atlanta, where he has been since being transported to the US from Liberia on Saturday.  Brantly was the first named Ebola victim to be treated in the US, and is one of two American charity workers infected. The other, Nancy Writebol, is also being treated in Atlanta.  Brantly contracted Ebola while working in a Liberian hospital for the international relief group Samaritan’s Purse. The organisation released Brantly’s statement, which said:  One thing I have learned is that following God often leads us to unexpected places. When Ebola spread into Liberia, my usual hospital work turned more and more toward treating the increasing number of Ebola patients. I held the hands of countless individuals as this terrible disease took their lives away from them. I witnessed the horror first-hand, and I can still remember every face and name.  When I started feeling ill on that Wednesday morning, I immediately isolated myself until the test confirmed my diagnosis three days later. When the result was positive, I remember a deep sense of peace that was beyond all understanding. God was reminding me of what he had taught me years ago: that he will give me everything I need to be faithful to him.  The World Health Organisation declared the outbreak, the world’s largest and longest, an international public health emergency on Friday.
Dr Kent Brantly writes from isolation room in Atlanta hospital to reflect on aid work in Africa, where he contracted the disease