Jeremy Writebol shows a photograph of his mother and father. His mother, Nancy Writebol, is expected to fly Tuesday to the U.S. for treatment for Ebola, which she contracted while working as a missionary in Africa.

ATLANTA — One of two known American Ebola victims, missionary Nancy Writebol wasn’t looking to abandon her overseas work. But Jeremy Writebol believes his 59-year-old mother can yield a greater good from her impending return to the United States amid West Africa’s worst outbreak of the often-deadly virus.

The attention focused on her case, the younger Writebol said, “might help develop a cure and resources to help those who are suffering. I am sure hopeful for that.”

A Liberian government official has confirmed that a medical evacuation team is scheduled early Tuesday to fly Nancy Writebol back to the United States, where she will receive treatment at Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital alongside one of her mission partners, Dr. Kent Brantly, who was admitted Saturday.

The American cases make headlines as dozens of African heads of state converge on Washington for today’s opening of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, a three-day gathering hosted by President Barack Obama. Among the stated purposes: discussing how to help African nations overcome systemic challenges, including disease.

Brantly and Writebol contracted Ebola after working on the same medical mission team treating victims of the virus around Monrovia, Liberia. More than 1,300 people have been stricken, killing at least 729 of them in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Ebola has no vaccine or antidote. Contracted through close contact with bodily fluid and blood — as opposed to an airborne virus like influenza or the common cold — Ebola causes hemorrhagic fever that kills at least 60 percent of the people it infects in Africa, where substandard health care makes it easier to spread the virus and harder to treat it. Yet medical experts say recovery prospects are much greater at modern hospitals that follow strict controls for infection control.

Emory, where Brantly already is quarantined, boasts one of the nation’s most sophisticated infectious disease units. Patients are sealed off from anyone not in protective gear. Lab tests are conducted inside the unit, ensuring that viruses don’t leave the quarantined area.