A doctor in Sierra Leone who contracted Ebola after working in a clinic there says he has recovered from the dangerous viral disease and has vowed to continue to work to care for Ebola patients.
Dr. Komba Songu-M'briwa was one of just three doctors working at the critically understaffed 120-bed Hastings Ebola Treatment Center near the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown.
He began feeling ill on Nov. 20 and believed it could be exhaustion and dehydration from long hours working in the sealed suit meant to protect him from the deadly Ebola virus.
On Nov. 26, however, he learned the suit had not been protection enough; on that day he was told he had tested positive for the virus.
He was put into isolation to be treated, vowing that he would return to working with Ebola patients if he recovered.
Although given his own room, he received treatment similar to what was being offered to other patients at the center; a course of general antibiotics intended to fend off the virus, fluids administered intravenously to combat the dehydration brought on by vomiting and diarrhea, and a diet intended to keep his strength up.
"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.
There was no guarantee he would recover; seven doctors in Sierra Leone have died from Ebola in the current outbreak.
However, on Monday medical officials announced Songu-M'briwa had tested "completely negative" for Ebola, after several successive tests following his treatment came back clear of the virus.
Songu-M'briwa is in the Sierra Leone military with the rank of captain and was working at the 34 Military Hospital in Freetown when the Ebola outbreak began.
He volunteered to work at the Hastings centers.
"When Ebola broke out, I felt it was a fight for all of us to try to contain," he said.
Sierra Leone suffers from an acute shortage of doctors; the country of 6 million people has only about 135 doctors.
"We're stretched out, three of us cannot do all the work here," he has said of the working condition at Hastings.
Still, he says, he wants to return to it and continue to work, even after his own close call with Ebola.
"I don't have regrets because I'm enjoying my job, and I think it's been a blessing to other people," he said.
"It's not going to stop me. I am not going to relent."
