Ebola-hit US charity doc ‘better’ but survival uncertain

An American doctor brought back to the US after catching the deadly Ebola virus while in Liberia is improving, heath officials said.

Dr Kent Brantly, 33, is being treated in a special isolation ward at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where he was able to walk with help from the ambulance on arrival.

The father-of-two is being treated by infectious disease specialist at the hospital.

Dr Tom Frieden, director of the US Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, said, ''It's encouraging that he seems to be improving - that's really important - and we're hoping he'll continue to improve.''

Dr Frieden said it was too soon to tell whether or not Dr Brantly would survive, but said it was unlikely his wife and children had contracted the disease.

Dr Brantly, who works for the North Carolina-based Christian organisation Samaritan's Purse, had been in Liberia responding to the worst Ebola outbreak on record when he contracted the disease.

Nancy Writebol, a second US aid worker who contracted the illness while working at the same place as Dr Brantly, is expected to arrive in Atlanta later this week.