Sierra Leone doctor who got Ebola is not relenting

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Sierra Leone doctor who got Ebola is not relenting
By SARAH DiLORENZO, Associated Press | December 2, 2014 | Updated: December 2, 2014 1:59pm

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — For eight weeks, Dr. Komba Songu-M'briwa worked at the understaffed Hastings Ebola Treatment Center outside Sierra Leone's capital. When he began feeling sick, he thought it might be exhaustion but on Nov. 26 he got dreadful news: He had tested positive for Ebola.

Songu-M'briwa and just two other doctors, along with 77 nurses, work at the 120-bed treatment center. It was the "most difficult, most pitiful" work of his life, the 32-year-old said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his isolation room. Even so, he vowed to return to that crucial work if he recovered.

"I do enjoy the work here and I hope and pray once I'm out of here, I'll take a bit of rest, and I'll come back and fight," Songu-M'briwa said on Sunday.

On Monday, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brima Kargbo announced that Songu-M'briwa had tested "completely negative" for Ebola after three tests came back clear.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Sierra-Leone-doctor-who-got-Ebola-is-not-relenting-5929552.php#photo-7218031

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Dr. Komba Songu-M'briwa[/center]

[sunnystarr]

1. Isn't his recovery really fast?

Went into hospital Nov. 25th after getting a fever but hadn't felt well since 11/20; diagnosed with Ebola on Nov. 26th and reported all cured on Dec 2nd. One week without any special treatment - "general antibiotics to keep other diseases at bay, intravenous fluids to replace fluids lost through diarrhea and vomiting and good nutrition to keep strength up."

Is my memory off or wasn't it way more complex for the patients brought to the States?

It was uplifting to read that he's doing well and has such a strong commitment to helping Ebola patients. The world is blessed with people like this doctor.

[Warpy]

2. It's suspiciously fast

but some people don't go on to hemorrhage and bleed out internally. Perhaps he's one of the lucky ones who have a milder form of the illness and survive it.

It's also quite likely he dismissed his own symptoms until they became severe enough that he could no longer do the job because he was spending all his time in the latrine.

I know i was sicker than many of my patients by the time I quit. I just wasn't sick with anything contagious.

[cosmicone]

3. He probably had developed antibodies from an earlier subclinical exposure. n/t

[greatlaurel]

4. A hero!

It is really good news he is recovering. Hope he feels much stronger soon.