Isolating a person suspected of Ebola is a little more scarier than childhood Chickenpox. But just imagine if the person suspected of having Ebola is only five years old. Also, it is even more scarier if the doctor who is taking care of you is dressed in a white "Darth Vader" costume.
Below is a rare glimpse of life in an Ebola Isolation Ward near Mweka in central Congo. Thanks to Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for their work to contain this Ebola outbreak.
MSF: DRC ebola outbreak - images.
Mwamba Mikobi, 5, receives treatment in the ebola isolation ward that has been set up in Kampungu in the Western Kasai province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He was brought in by his father whose daughter died on December 22, 2008. She had been vomiting blood, had a fever and other indicators of hemorrhagic fever.
As her brother had been in contact with his sister and was showing some of the same signs like high fever, headache and vomiting, His father took his son to the centre on January 6. By MSF standards he is a "suspected case" and was put into the isolation unit the same day. By evening, after receiving malaria treatment (ebola signs resemble those of malaria), antibiotics and oral rehydration, he was still vomiting but had no fever.
The following day, he had no signs and two days after being placed in the isolation ward, he was discharged. Mwamba will be followed for the next 21 days, as this is the longest known ebola incubation period. In addition, all the people he has been in contact with will be monitored.
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