U.S. aid workers pose no public risk after Ebola treatment: doctor

(Reuters) - Two American aid workers discharged from an Atlanta hospital after being treated for Ebola pose no health risk to the public, an Emory University Hospital doctor said on Thursday. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who both contracted the deadly virus in Liberia while working for Christian organizations, have tested clear of Ebola and are likely to make a complete recovery, said Dr. Bruce Ribner, medical director of Emory’s Infectious Disease Unit. "I am forever thankful to God for sparing my life," Brantly said during a news conference that marked his first public appearance since walking into the hospital wearing a bio-hazard suit on Aug. 2. In a separate statement, Christian mission group SIM USA said Writebol was released from the hospital on Tuesday and was resting in an undisclosed location with her husband. "As she walked out of her isolation room, all she could say was, 'To God be the glory,'" Brantly, himself a physician who was working for the Christian relief group Samaritan's Purse, told reporters in Atlanta. The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that 2,473 people have been infected and 1,350 have died since the Ebola outbreak was identified in remote southeastern Guinea in March. It said that no cases of the disease had been confirmed outside of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria despite cases having been suspected elsewhere. (Additional reporting by Joe Bavier in Abidjan and Daniel Flynn in Dakar; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Louise Ireland, Bill Trott and Susan Heavey)