Former Ebola Virus US Patients Mark 5 Years Since Recovery While Congo Still Fighting with Current Outbreak

As a new Ebola outbreak rages in Congo, two of the first Ebola virus patients to be successfully treated in the United States during the deadliest recorded outbreak five years ago are reuniting with their doctors. Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol were among the four Americans who were treated and recovered at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital in 2014.

They plan to join Emory medical staff for a media briefing on Friday, the fifth anniversary of Brantly's arrival. He was the first to come to Emory after being infected while working in Liberia. A third former patient, Dr. Ian Crozier, had planned to join them but is back in Congo, helping to fight the current outbreak.

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The outbreak in Congo is the second deadliest recorded and has already killed more than 1,800 people, nearly a third of them children. The 2014-16 outbreak in West Africa killed more than 11,300 people. (VOA)