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Husband Visits Wife in Isolation After His Own Precautionary Ebola Quarantine Was Lifted

Husband Visits Wife in Isolation After His Own Precautionary Ebola Quarantine Was Lifted

"We both placed our hands on opposite sides of the glass."

The precautionary quarantine on an American missionary in North Carolina after he came back from Ebola-stricken Liberia, where his wife contracted the viral disease, was lifted over the weekend. Afterward, he was able to visit her for the first time since she was brought back to the United States for treatment.

David Writebol's quarantine was lifted Sunday. After this, he headed to Atlanta, where his wife, Nancy, remains in isolation at Emory University Hospital. She is one of two American missionaries confirmed to have the contagious disease who were brought back earlier this month from West Africa, which is seeing the largest Ebola outbreak in history.

An ambulance transporting Nancy Writebol, an American missionary stricken with Ebola, arrives at Emory University Hospital, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014, in Atlanta. Writebol is expected to be admitted to Emory on Tuesday, where she will join another U.S. aid worker, Dr. Kent Brantly, in a special isolation unit. (AP/Jason Getz) An ambulance transported Nancy Writebol, an American missionary stricken with Ebola, to Emory University Hospital on August 5. Writebol is still in isolation at Emory along with fellow U.S. aid worker, Dr. Kent Brantly. (AP/Jason Getz)

Writebold said he looked through the glass in the isolation room and spotted his wife on the other side. They both placed their hands on opposite sides of the glass and cried.

"I have had the great joy to be able to look through the isolation room glass and see my beautiful wife again," he said, according to Reuters. "We both placed our hands on opposite sides of the glass, moved with tears to look at each other again."

Writebol his wife is continuing to gain strength. Both she and Dr. Kent Brantly, who also has Ebola, received an experimental drug in the hope it would help combat the virus.

Here's more of what is going on with the Ebola outbreak else where:

  • Airport screening: The World Health Organization is recommending that countries affected by the Ebola outbreak began having all passengers leaving the country screened at airports and ground crossing to help curb further spread. If a person was found to have symptoms that are consistent with the viral illness, WHO said they should not be allowed to travel unless it is part of a medical evacuation.

Health workers with buckets, as part of their Ebola virus prevention protective gear, at an Ebola treatment center in the city of Monrovia, Liberia, Monday, Aug. 18, 2014.  Liberia's armed forces were given orders to shoot people trying to illegally cross the border from neighboring Sierra Leone, which is closed to stem the spread of Ebola, local newspaper Daily Observer reported Monday. (AP/Abbas Dulleh) Health workers with buckets, as part of their Ebola virus prevention protective gear, at an Ebola treatment center in the city of Monrovia, Liberia, Monday, Aug. 18, 2014. Liberia's armed forces were given orders to shoot people trying to illegally cross the border from neighboring Sierra Leone, which is closed to stem the spread of Ebola, local newspaper Daily Observer reported Monday. (AP/Abbas Dulleh)

  • Hospital break: Looting at an Ebola quarantine center in Monrovia over the weekend resulted in the escape of more than a dozen possible Ebola patients. By Monday, some had been re-hospitalized, but 17 were still at large. None were confirmed to have Ebola but were in the screening process for it, Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah said. While potentially infected patients might have escaped, authorities are also concerned about the theft of bloody sheets and mattresses that could carry the Ebola virus.

In this undated handout photo provided by Medecins Sans Frontieres, Cokie van der Velde, a British sanitation specialist for Doctors Without Borders is seen in head-to-toe protective gear in Guekedou, Guinea. Normally, she spends her days in Yorkshire, tending to her garden and looking after her grandchildren. Van der Velde has worked on two previous Ebola outbreaks _ she gets paid a salary and stipend _ and says she does this kind of work because she believes in justice and equality. She said the need is overwhelming in this outbreak because of the heavy toll Ebola has taken on health workers; many of those sickened and killed have been doctors and nurses. That has sparked fear among many local staffers and led to strikes and resignations. (AP/MSF) In this undated handout photo provided by Medecins Sans Frontieres, Cokie van der Velde, a British sanitation specialist for Doctors Without Borders is seen in head-to-toe protective gear in Guekedou, Guinea. Normally, she spends her days in Yorkshire, tending to her garden and looking after her grandchildren. Van der Velde has worked on two previous Ebola outbreaks _ she gets paid a salary and stipend _ and says she does this kind of work because she believes in justice and equality. She said the need is overwhelming in this outbreak because of the heavy toll Ebola has taken on health workers; many of those sickened and killed have been doctors and nurses. That has sparked fear among many local staffers and led to strikes and resignations. (AP/MSF)

  • Doctors struggle with morale: Working 14-hour shifts, seven days a week in a full suit to protect themselves, health workers are battling exhaustion and dehydration, in addition to working in the face of an rampant, infections disease with many patients who don't trust them. "There was a young girl, about 6, who came in late in the illness who was bleeding from her bowels, very dehydrated and delirious," Dr. Robert Fowler said. "She was very frightened and very reluctant to engage, and just wanted to push people away. She eventually developed this sense that this person in the suit who's a bit scary is trying to help me."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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