Ebola: US patient recovering after receiving 'experimental serum'

In an undated handout photograph courtesy of Samaritan's Purse, Dr. Kent Brantly, right, with colleagues at the case management center on the campus of ELWA Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. Brantly, who contracted Ebola, is receiving treatment at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta

An American doctor who contracted Ebola in west Africa appears to be recovering, thanks in part to a new and experimental treatment, according to a report from The Los Angeles Times . Dr. Kenneth Brantly is currently being treated at an Atlanta hospital , but his organization, Samaritan's Purse, says the crucial treatment began with an experimental serum that Brantly received in Liberia. Brantly also received a blood transfusion from a recovered Ebola patient who he had treated earlier, which may have aided in his ongoing recovery.

There's currently no specific treatment for the Ebola virus, which has a mortality rate between 50 and 90 percent, but basic medical care can make an enormous difference in managing its symptoms. As the current outbreak spreads to more than 700 cases in West Africa, the search for specific treatments has grown increasingly urgent. This weekend, Nigeria  reported its second confirmed case of the disease , after earlier cases in Liberia, Equitorial Guinea and Sierra Leone. The current Ebola outbreak is  the worst in the history of the disease .

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