TWO AMERICAN EBOLA VICTIMS TO LAND IN U.S. FOR INTENSIVE CARE

Two Americans battling Ebola are being flown from Liberia to Atlanta in specially outfitted planes - bringing the incurable disease to U.S. shores for the first time, it has been reported.

Dr Kent Brantly and hygienist Nancy Writebol, both of whom are said to be in 'grave condition', will be brought back to the U.S. one by one.

Emory University in Atlanta has confirmed that they will be taking one of the patients 'in the next several days' after they arrive in the U.S. in the Gulfstream jet. It is not clear which of the two patients they will be housing or where the second patient will go.

Emory and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is also based in Atlanta, have built a special containment unit to house the patient, who is in need of an extremely high level of isolation.

 

Inside the aircraft, the patients will remain in a tent-like structure called an aeromedical biological containment system, which allows officials to move highly contagious patients without fear of exposure to pathogens.

According to WXIA, Emory's isolation unit is on the ground floor and has three beds with the highest standards in negative pressure air handling, HEPA filtration and exhaust.

'When this unit was being built, we hoped we'd never have to use the space to treat a serious communicable disease,' said Emory epidemiologist Bruce Ribner.

However that's precisely what will soon happen. The modified Gulfstream III took off from Cartersville, Georgia Thursday afternoon for the first-of-its-kind mission to collect the Ebola patients.

After it emerged the Americans were returning to their homeland, Twitter lit up with fellow citizens fuming over the decision.
One self-proclaimed patriot was especially unhappy with the news.
'Ebola patient will be brought to the U.S. in a few days - now I know for sure that our  leaders are incompetent. KEEP THEM OUT OF HERE!' Donald Trump tweeted Thursday evening.

Efforts have been made to help the two patients with the means available in Liberia - and just hours before the flight to Atlanta was revealed, father-of-two Brantly gave up the single vial of an experimental treatment sent over from the U.S. in order that Writebol - a grandmother and longtime Christian missionary - could receive it instead.

Brantly, from Fort Worth, Texas, ensured Writebol received the experimental drug instead of him after only a small amount arrived in Liberia, the Samaritan's Purse charity said on Wednesday.

Brantly would receive a transfusion of the blood of a 14-year-old Ebola survivor who personally helped to treat. Giving blood transfusions from survivors to still suffering Ebola patients is an established, though not nearly proven, treatment for the largely untreatable disease.

Announcing Dr Brantly's gallant decision, Samaritan's Purse president Franklin Graham said: 'Yesterday, an experimental serum arrived in the country, but there was only enough for one person. Dr. Brantly asked that it be given to Nancy Writebol.'

However, on Thursday charity SIM said in a statement that Mrs Writebol's condition had worsened, despite the serum.

Mrs Writebol is in stable, but serious condition and is receiving an experimental drug that doctors hope will better address her condition, the charity said.

Her husband, David, is close by but can only visit his wife through a window or dressed in a haz-mat suit.

'We continue to pray for Nancy's full and complete recovery,' said Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA. 'Even though her condition has worsened, we know she is receiving the best possible medical care, and we are thankful that she has access to this experimental drug.

'We believe in the power of prayer and ask people around the world not only to pray for Nancy and Kent, but also for everyone affected by this terrible virus.'

On Wednesday, the charity said Dr Brantley's condition had gone from grave to serious.

However, on Thursday they said he had 'taken a slight turn for the worse overnight.'

Despite Brantly's recent turn for the worse, his wife remained confident Thursday that he would pull through.

'I remain hopeful and believing that Kent will be healed from this dreadful disease,' she said in a statement Thursday. "He is strong and peaceful and confident in the love of Jesus Christ, which is his sustenance right now.'

She also said that she and her children, who were in Liberia with Brantly before he fell ill, remained perfectly healthy.