Confirmed: Samaritan's Purse Doctor and Missionary in Liberia Contract Deadly Ebola—Families Seek Prayer

Teresa Neumann : Jul 28, 2014
Staff – Samaritan's Purse

We request that her family's privacy be respected during this difficult time, and please keep them in your prayers. -Samaritan's Purse

(Monrovia, Liberia)—It has been confirmed that the two Americans reported to have contracted the deadly Ebola virus last week are Nancy Writebol, a missionary with Serving in Mission, and Dr. Kent Brantly the medical director of the Samaritan's Purse Ebola case management center in Liberia. (Photo via Daily Mail)

Writebol and her husband David are from Charlotte, North Carolina; Brantly, originally from Indianapolis, is from Fort Worth, Texas.

According to a Daily Mail report, Dr. Brantly's mother, speaking from her home in Indiana, noted, "It's a very very stressful time. Kent is a fine young man, very compassionate, doing what he’s prepared all his life to do. He’s placed his life in the hands of a loving God and our love [for] that God sustains us."

An official statement from Samaritan's Purse reads:

Dr. Kent Brantly, Medical Director for the Samaritan's Purse Ebola Consolidated Case Management Center in Monrovia, Liberia, has tested positive for the Ebola virus. He is currently undergoing treatment at a Samaritan's Purse isolation center at ELWA Hospital. Samaritan's Purse is continuing medical operations at our Ebola Case Management Centers in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, the Liberia Ministry of Health, and other global health authorities.

Dr. Brantly is married with two children. Samaritan's Purse is committed to doing everything possible to help Dr. Brantly during this time of crisis. We ask everyone to please pray for him and his family.

A second U.S. citizen working in Liberia has tested positive for the Ebola virus. Nancy Writebol is employed by SIM in Liberia and was helping the joint SIM/Samaritan's Purse team that is treating Ebola patients at the Case Management Center in Monrovia. SIM manages ELWA Hospital there, and the two organizations have been working closely to combat Ebola since the current outbreak began in Liberia in March. (Photo via Daily Mail)

Writebol is married with two children. We request that her family's privacy be respected during this difficult time, and please keep them in your prayers.

Melissa Strickland, spokeswoman for Samaritan's Purse, said Sunday that Dr. Brantly was in stable condition and, though "not out of the woods" yet, because he received treatment immediately after infection he stands a good chance of survival.

According to the World Health Organization, the Ebola outbreak in Africa has caused at least 660 deaths so far.