Happy to be granted a second life, American doctor Kent Brantly has been discharged from an Atlanta hospital on Thursday after being diagnosed with Ebola while he was helping fight the outbreak in West Africa.

Together with the medical team who treated him in Emory University Hospital, the 33-year-old doctor expressed his heartfelt gratitude and glee for recovering from the deadly disease.

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"I am thrilled to be alive, to be well, and to be reunited with my family," he shared, with tears welling up in his eyes as he read his written statement.

Brantly's public appearance proves that even though he contracted the disease for one month, he presents no threat to the public.

Prior to Brantly's recovery, another Ebola doctor, 59-year-old Nancy Writebol, was also infected with the disease and has been discreetly released on Tuesday.

According to Dr. Bruce Ribner, head of the infectious disease unit at the EU Hospital, the two Ebola doctors are still weak from battling with the disease. However, both are expected to recover completely.

He also explained that they pose no threat to society and that people can interact with them without worry of acquiring the dreaded Ebola virus.

"If the hugging transmit the message that we don't think he's contagious, I think that would be accurate," he said.

On July 23, Brantly felt sick and was stunned to know that he was diagnosed with the same illness he was trying to treat.

A little more than a week later, he was flown out of Liberia and admitted to the Atlanta hospital, where he stayed for nearly one month, fighting for his life.

Together with Writebol, he was then given the experimental ZMapp drug, the very first Ebola patients to ever receive this medication.

Though unsure whether the experimental drug had actually helped in their recovery, Dr. Ribner vowed to work on a number of journals and medical organs to share the knowledge they acquired from observing the two recovered Ebola patients.

TagsEbola outbreak, doctors, Virus