It passes from one person to another in the infected blood, urine or faeces as a woman nurses her child or a man prepares his wife for burial. And it kills up to 90 per cent of those it infects without intensive supportive care.
In Sierra Leone, as in other affected countries, local health workers are dying too and those that are not yet infected are scared and are running away, leaving their neighbours to fend for themselves.
This is the face of Ebola virus disease (EVD) today in an outbreak labelled “one of the largest in history” by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Panic and fear have set in as West Africans struggle to control a disease they do not have the facilities to manage.
And with health workers either dead, ill or afraid these communities are relying on the international community to assist.
Sue-Ellen Kovack, a 56-year-old registered nurse from Cairns, north Queensland is one to put up her hand to help.
She is on her way to Kenema, in Sierra Leone’s south, to work with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in their new Red Cross Ebola Treatment Centre.
“I care about humanity and if I have what people need, I would like to use these skills. Why me? Well, if not me then who?” Ms Kovack said.
The situation there is overwhelming for the local community. Over 15 health workers have died in the government hospital in Kenema, while many more are infected and the staff is now abandoning the hospital.
“The numbers [of infected] are going up in quite astronomical numbers. In the past three weeks alone, the numbers have gone up by 40 per cent,” Ms Kovack told ABC Far North.
“And they are expecting them to go a lot higher and the response will take many, many months so we really do need to do what we can.
“I believe my past working history has given me the skills to help out in this humanitarian emergency, which is turning into an epidemic of catastrophic proportions.”
Recent reports say staff have gone on strike over pay and poor working conditions. Their clothing is inadequate and their equipment virtually non-existent.
Ms Kovack and other international aid workers with the IFRC, including several other Australians, will be providing hands-on treatment and support, both to infected people and to the local community.
“Since people first became sick with Ebola, over 1,500 trained Red Cross volunteers have been working around the clock to help people understand how they can protect themselves and prevent further spread of the disease,” Peter Walton, the head of the Red Cross International Program, said.
“In total, Red Cross is reaching more than 10 million people with information and education across West Africa,” he said.
“We’re stepping up our activities over the coming weeks aiming to stop the Ebola virus from spreading further.”
Ebola is ‘absolutely survivable’ with early intervention
Educating families about protection will form a cornerstone of Ms Kovack’s work with the IFRC in Kenema.
Stories have emerged of misplaced fears among local people regarding the “dangers” of washing hands with chlorinated water for example, or fears of presenting to hospital for treatment when symptoms arise.
According to fellow Red Cross volunteers already working in in the field in West Africa, the survival rate is about 50 per cent.
Rather than focus on the mortality rate, Ms Kovack prefers to draw attention to the survival statistics.
“We have to get the news out that there are a lot of good stories about the disease too,” Ms Kovack said.
“There are great stories… a pregnant lady has come through it recently, which is quite amazing to everyone.
“Ebola is absolutely survivable.
“As long as people come in to the clinic early, there is a better chance. We can start supportive care, fluids, ensure they are not suffering from other diseases like malaria or lassa.
“And it’s wonderful to see the survivors coming out [of hospital] with their certificates.
“Everyone chants and sings and I imagine its quite an emotional experience for everybody.
“The reason we need so many people on the ground is to spread this message. It’s not just me working in the Ebola Treatment Centre.
“It’s all those people out there contact tracing, the burial teams, community media.
“People need to spread the word: ‘Come early and you will have your best chance of survival’.”
Respecting and managing the virus
The sight of health workers clad in white jumpsuits, faces unrecognisable behind eye shields and face masks, highlights the dangers they are confronting every day in their work.
“I have great respect for this virus,” Ms Kovack said.
“And as long as I take care of myself and follow all precautions, protocols and guidelines put out by the Red Cross and WHO, I hope to be OK.
“I have taken good care of myself before this assignment — mind and body and spirit and hope it will carry me through.”
Ms Kovack is no stranger to danger and grisly, harsh conditions being a highly trained remote area nurse and operating theatre nurse with resuscitation skills, and experience with communicable disease.
She has previously worked with the Red Cross in war-torn South Sudan and in Sierra Leone in 2002, where one of her more experiences involved a torch-light caesarean delivery after the water and electricity dropped out and with no fuel for the generator.
Ms Kovack is unable to say how long it will take to gain control of the Ebola virus, but believes it could be at least six months.
“It’s difficult out in the field to do the reporting and the recording so we will have to wait and see,” she said.
Ms Kovack will be in Sierra Leone for one month and expects the conditions to be “quite difficult”.
On her return, she will be isolated for 21 days before returning to work in the remote communities of Arnhem Land, Cape York or the Cocos Islands.
“It will be an amazing experience to be in the middle of this and do what I can to help.”
To donate to the Red Cross Ebola Outbreak Appeal go to: www.redcross.org.au