Salome Carva died in Liberia

A nurse fighting Ebola refused to treat, fearing the virus: NPR

In 2014, Salome Carva fell on the cover of Time magazine: a 26-year-old nurse from Liberia was called a man of the year for her work with patients of Ebola fever. Many of her relatives died in the epidemic, but Karva herself survived and married. In February 2017, the fourth child was born in her family, and a few days later the nurse died-according to her husband, she was refused to provide medical assistance because of the fear of getting infected with Ebola virus. The story of Salome Carva tells NPR.

Journalists learned about the death of Salome Carva from her husband, James Harris. He said that on February 17, Karva gave birth to a son. The birth was successful, although she had to make a cesarean section. Despite the increased pressure, Salome was sent home, but the complications soon began, and she again needed hospitalization.

According to Harris, Salome needed an operation. Taking her to the hospital, he suggested that she would instantly provide assistance - but the hospital staff refused to examine her. “She survived Ebola - they probably were afraid that she was still carrying the virus,” her husband suggests. According to him, all the latest tests on Ebola at Salome were negative.

There was no sitting specialist in Ebola's fever on the spot, and Harris and his wife were offered to go to another hospital. After waiting for several hours in the car, Harris himself put his wife in a gurney and took him to the operating room. Nurses helped him, but the doctor said that he would not touch Salome. Harris had to call the epidemiologist and beg him to intervene. Only after his arrival, Karva was examined and accepted for treatment. Two days later, she died.

The hospital said that in connection with the death of the nurse, an investigation is being conducted. At the same time, the chief sanitary doctor of Liberia Francis Kate emphasized that it is too early to draw any conclusions: he said, he understands the position of a husband who survived grief, but it is also true that, agreeing to treat a patient who had suffered Ebola in the past, medical personnel endanated himself.

Harris, like Salome, also survived Ebola. They met in 2013 and soon began to meet. A year later, the Ebola epidemic began in Liberia. The Salome family fell into the first wave of the disease. From the virus, her father, mother and uncle died. But she survived - with her sister and groom. When Harris fell ill, Salome nursed him until he recovered (English.).

NPR