The first time Jonah Kieh heard about Ebola was last spring, when a friend warned him of a "wickedness" spread by ghosts, turning victims feverish and then killing them. Mr Kieh was visiting his extended family near Takpoima, in the forest of Lofa-Mano national park in Liberia, to sell hair brushes and other cosmetic products from Monrovia, the capital. He paid little heed to the wickedness, but after several weeks he became frightened as people kept dying around him. "I ran back to Monrovia," he says. Back in West Point, the city's main slum, Mr Kieh fell ill with either Ebola or malaria (the initial symptoms are very similar). He stayed indoors for weeks and eventually recovered.
展开▼
