Newspaper headlines demonstrate the escalating fears over the fast-spreading Ebola virus. Photo: AP
Am I the first person to be told that they have malaria and feel a sense of relief? Possibly. However, my diagnosis five weeks ago was given while I was working in a small rural hospital in Sierra Leone, where contact with the Ebola virus was a real possibility.
I'd had a fever, cold symptoms and was struggling to walk for more than a few minutes. Whatever was wrong with me, I attempted to reassure myself, it couldn't be Ebola, one of the most virulent of viral diseases, for which there is no cure and a mortality rate of up to 90 per cent. The climate of worry and the feeling of vulnerability that affected me and my fellow health workers was far from unwarranted.
Figures from the World Health Organisation show that the latest outbreak of the deadly virus in western Africa has infected more than 1320 people and killed at least 729. Sierra Leone now has the highest number of confirmed cases, at 473, surpassing neighbouring Guinea, where the outbreak originated in February and where 336 cases have been confirmed.
My colleagues and I were working at the 100-bed Masanga hospital in the rural district of Tonkolili, which borders Kenema, the region where the Ebola virus is most prevalent.