ATLANTA — As one of few Ebola survivors with medical expertise, Dr. Kent Brantly seems keenly aware of the position his painful experience has put him in. He hasn’t spoken yet about his plans, but spent much of his first public appearance pleading for help for countries still struggling with the virus.

“I am forever thankful to God for sparing my life and am glad for any attention my sickness has attracted to the plight of West Africa in the midst of this epidemic,” Brantly said Thursday at a news conference before leaving Emory University Hospital, where he and a medical missionary colleague spent three weeks in an isolation unit as they recovered.

“Please continue to pray for Liberia and the people of West Africa, and encourage those in positions of leadership and influence to do everything possible to bring this Ebola outbreak to an end,” he added before hugging all the doctors and nurses, a display of affection telegraphing the message that Ebola survivors are not contagious.

With the world watching, Brantly could continue sending these messages from the United States or even return to Africa with his doctors’ blessing.

“My family and I will now be going away for a period of time to reconnect, decompress and continue to recover physically and emotionally. After I have recovered a little more and regained some of my strength, we will look forward to sharing more of our story,” said Brantly, visibly thinner than he appeared in an image circulated earlier by his charity organization, the North Carolina-based Samaritan’s Purse.