Malibu Doctor Working To Control Spread Of Ebola Virus Returns From Africa
MALIBU (CBSLA.com) — A local doctor has returned to the Southland after traveling to Africa to help combat the spread of the Ebola virus.
Despite the risks, Suzanne Donovan of Olive View-UCLA Medical Center traveled to Sierra Leone and spoke to CBS2's Elsa Ramon on Wednesday about her trip.
"It was very frightening with the children. We would go in and try to engage with the children who were in the treatment unit, and we look like we were from Mars. And so it took a long time to get their trust," she explained.
Donovan added that cultural practices, like preparing the dead for burial, are also contributing to the spread.
"You take the dead body and you wash it. And you dress it. You kiss it. You hug it. And then you take that water, and you can actually take a bath in the water," she said.
She said that despite what many fear, a humanitarian crisis in the United States from Ebola is highly unlikely.
"You can't compare the United States to Africa. In Africa, the infrastructure for health care, the presence of infection control is just not present in most of the health-care facilities," she said.
Meanwhile, the doctor said Ebola is spread through direct contact with fluids from someone who is infected.
"The only way that you can be exposed and be infected with Ebola is to actually have direct contact with fluids coming from someone with Ebola. So that would be blood, vomit, stool," she explained.
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