Fort Worth doctor tests positive for Ebola...

[Bob Of Burleson]

. . . while working for aid group in Liberia

By JULIE FANCHER
jfancher@dallasnews.com

A Fort Worth doctor working in Liberia with Ebola patients through an international relief agency has tested positive for the virus, the agency announced in a news release Saturday.

Dr. Kent Brantly is a medical director for the Samaritan’s Purse Ebola Consolidated Case Management Center in Monrovia, Liberia, the news release said.

According to the news release, he is undergoing treatment at the Samaritan’s Purse isolation center at ELWA Hospital in Monrovia, the West African country’s capital.

“Samaritan’s Purse is committed to doing everything possible to help Dr. Brantly during this time of crisis,” the North Carolina-based organization said. “We ask everyone to please pray for him and his family.”

Brantly, who is married with two children, is a family practice physician in Fort Worth. He began serving in Africa as part of his post-residency program before the Ebola outbreak began, Samaritan’s Purse spokeswoman Melissa Strickland said.

Brantly’s wife and children had been living with him in Africa, but they currently are in the U.S., Strickland said.

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[marti]

Sad. And the way it's spreading is scary, too

[ann jusko]

God bless him! I hope and pray he recovers quickly and his family isn't affected ( or infected!).

[Bob Of Burleson]

A sign at Southside Church of Christ in Fort Worth offers support
for Dr. Kent Brantly, who is being treated for the Ebola virus
in Liberia and is in stable condition.
(Ben Noey Jr./Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

By CHARLES SCUDDER, MELISSA REPKO AND SEEMA YASMIN
The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH — The mood at Southside Church of Christ on Sunday morning was somber and quiet. The congregation had just learned that one of its beloved members, a doctor working in Liberia, had tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus.

Dr. Kent Brantly, 33, a family physician and father of two, has spent much of his life caring for others. He felt called to travel in October to Monrovia, Liberia, with an international relief agency, Samaritan’s Purse, and started treating Ebola patients in June.

Even after he was diagnosed, he asked his home congregation for prayers not only for himself, but for his colleagues.

“He has such a compassionate heart,” said Jason Brewington, a church member who worked with Brantly at Fort Worth’s John Peter Smith Hospital. “Even in the midst of this, he’s asking not just for himself, but for others.”

. . .

Last week, Brantly recognized that he had symptoms associated with Ebola, said Melissa Strickland, a spokeswoman for Samaritan’s Purse. He immediately isolated himself and told team members. Brantly and his team “meticulously adhere to” protocols defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, she said.

Brantly is being treated in an isolation center at a Liberian hospital, where he worked as medical director for an Ebola case management center run by North Carolina-based Samaritan’s Purse.

He is in stable condition. “His fever is fluctuating,” Strickland said. “He has some aches and pains. But he’s sitting up working on his computer. He’s a very dedicated person and a very strong person, and he’s fighting as we’d expect someone like him to fight.”

In Fort Worth, Brantly attended Southside Church of Christ while working as a resident at John Peter Smith. Brewington, 35, a faculty member at the hospital, also attended the church.

At the Sunday morning service, he said, there was a special prayer time for Brantly and his family. “People are still taking it in,” Brewington said. “It’s just hard to believe there can be a virus so deadly.”

Brantly graduated from Abilene Christian University in 2003 and Indiana University School of Medicine in 2009. Early in his career, he was recognized for his commitment to patients.

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