Doctor: "I survived Ebola, but ZMapp almost killed me"

Doctor: "I survived Ebola, but ZMapp almost killed me" HT: Crof.

Thanks to Dr. Ian Mackay for tweeting the link to this fascinating report from France 24: 'How I survived Ebola'. Excerpt:

Senga Omeonga is doing better. Much better. Three weeks ago, FRANCE 24 interviewed this Congolese doctor who contracted the Ebola virus while working in Monrovia, Liberia. At the time, he was wasting away in the hallway of a hospital, without any treatment or food. Today, while he still feels weak, he no longer has the virus. He told us about his journey to hell and back. 

Doctor Senga Omeonga lost 20 kilos, and still speaks with a weak voice, but he’s regained much of his strength, both physical and mental. He is one the very few, very lucky survivors of the deadly Ebola epidemic, which has spread through Western Africa in the past few months. 

Omeonga and two other doctors in Liberia were given Zmapp, a drug that was tested for the first time in early August on two American health workers, who have since recovered from the virus. However, this experimental treatment hasn’t cured everyone: one of the doctors in Liberia who was given Zmapp as treatment died last Sunday. 

"My status as a doctor working internationally worked in my favour in getting me this drug" 

Omeonga has worked for the five years at the John Fitzerald Medical Centre in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. He is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

"I’m still exhausted, but I know I’m out of the woods. On Thursday, I underwent one last medical test, and it proved I am no longer infected. I had gone home on Tuesday after having spent nearly three weeks at Elwa hospital, the only medical centre in Monrovia that’s taking Ebola patients.   

"People around me were dying like flies"  

"The first few days at that hospital were a real nightmare. There was not nearly enough staff or medical supplies. Since there were no rooms available, I had to wait in a hallway, lying on the ground, for a week. There was only one toilet for several dozen patients. A friend of mine came every day to give me food. In these conditions, I thought I would never survive; people around me were dying like flies. 

"A bed finally opened up, and a doctor treated me with Zmapp. He administered it to me three times. I believe my status as a doctor working internationally worked in my favour in getting me this drug. 

"Still, it was risky – the third dose of Zmapp almost killed me, since I had a strong allergic reaction to it and went into anaphylactic shock. 

"Every day since then, I’ve been steadily getting better. I intend to go back to work soon. My job as a doctor is to keep treating patients, including those who have contracted the Ebola virus. 

"Since I left the hospital, some of my friends are scared of me"  

Since I’ve left the hospital, it’s been interesting to see that some of my friends are a bit scared of me, at least those that don’t have any medical knowledge. Many of them refuse to come visit me, thinking I may still be carrying the virus. In Liberia, people living in regions touched by the epidemic have gone into a sort of mass psychosis leading to very irrational acts [Editor’s Note: Villagers in a town north-east of Monrovia recently barricaded a family in their home, where they died]. 

"This fear is starting to spread all over the country. The health ministry is having trouble recruiting medical staff – which means that hundreds of people will no doubt die simply due to lack of personnel – and politicians are fleeing the country." [Editor’s Note: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf fired a number of high-ranking officials who refused to return to the country to help fight the epidemic].