Dr. Rob Dretler ’72 has been covering the Emory Ebola scare as an Infection Disease Specialist of Atlanta. While in Emory working to fight Ebola and save lives, two Americans caught the disease and were immediately brought back to the U.D. for treatment. Dr. Dretler now says that “They’re immune.” Quoted from a local news station, Dr. Dretler states, "Once they're out of Emory, it's really just a matter of rehab -- good nutrition and rehabilitation, building your muscles back up," said Dr. Dretler. "This kind of illness destroys your muscle tissue, so there will be a lot of muscle loss.... It leaves you very weak, and it's going to take a long time to recover.... There's nothing that's irreversible, they should get back to relatively normal lives after a few months."
However, Dr. Dretler stated that he believes this is a matter that we should all take a lesson from. He thinks a lot of Americans are learning from this experience and that it is important to be, "Sending what resources we have, trained personnel, properly equipped personnel, to try to stop it before it spreads farther and becomes a world pandemic."
While at Hamilton, Dr. Dretler was a member of the Spectator and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology. Dr. Dretler went on to Tufts University where he received his doctor of Medicine in 1978.
