When Dr. Ian Crozier arrived in West Africa this past summer, he was stepping into the epicenter of the Ebola hot zone. The American doctor was working in the Ebola ward of a large, public hospital in Sierra Leone's dusty city of Kenema.
The trip nearly cost him his life. First came a fever, then a severe headache. "My first thought was, 'Oh, I must have missed a few days of my malaria prophylaxis,' " Crozier recalls.
A day and a half later, Crozier was medevaced to Atlanta and admitted to Emory University Hospital's isolation unit. He had come down with Ebola. And although he had enough strength to walk into Emory, his condition went downhill fast — to the point where he needed life support.
Crozier had landed at the Kenema Government Hospital at a time when the facility was on the verge of collapse. The lead doctor had just died of Ebola. Several nurses had also succumbed.
The Ebola ward was overflowing with sick, dying and dead patients. Patients were throwing up on the floor. Bed pans couldn't get emptied fast enough. The number of new patients was increasing by the day, but many staff members were too afraid to show up for work.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandso...vor-the-best-word-for-the-virus-is-aggression
The trip nearly cost him his life. First came a fever, then a severe headache. "My first thought was, 'Oh, I must have missed a few days of my malaria prophylaxis,' " Crozier recalls.
A day and a half later, Crozier was medevaced to Atlanta and admitted to Emory University Hospital's isolation unit. He had come down with Ebola. And although he had enough strength to walk into Emory, his condition went downhill fast — to the point where he needed life support.
Crozier had landed at the Kenema Government Hospital at a time when the facility was on the verge of collapse. The lead doctor had just died of Ebola. Several nurses had also succumbed.
The Ebola ward was overflowing with sick, dying and dead patients. Patients were throwing up on the floor. Bed pans couldn't get emptied fast enough. The number of new patients was increasing by the day, but many staff members were too afraid to show up for work.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandso...vor-the-best-word-for-the-virus-is-aggression
