A U.S. missionary who contracted the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia is better after being released from an Atlanta hospital but still regaining her strength, her son said on Friday.
Nancy Writebol, 59, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was discharged earlier in the week from Emory University Hospital after doctors said her symptoms had eased and blood and urine tests showed no evidence of the virus.
Dr. Kent Brantly, who also was stricken with Ebola in Liberia, was released on Thursday.
“She’s tired and trying to rest,” her son, Jeremy, told NBC. “There’s still some physical recovery that has to go on there. But her color’s good and strong. She seems pretty happy.”
Speaking alongside his brother, Brian, he said that the family has experienced “the lowest of lows and at the same time the highest of highs” since Writebol contracted the Ebola virus in July, while working for a Christian mission organization in Liberia, grappling first with her potential death and later her recovery.
He said faith, the care at Emory and the experimental drug, ZMapp, likely helped her survive the virus, which has a low survival rate.
Ebola can kill up to 90 percent of those who become infected, although the fatality rate in the current epidemic is about 60 percent.
Nancy’s husband, David, had been in quarantine after returning from Africa but the two have since reunited.
Jeremy Writebol has said that the couple has not ruled out returning to their Christian mission work in West Africa.
“She still thinking about it,” he told NBC. “Africa’s still in their heart and the suffering of the people in western Africa is still very deep for them.”
