They are waiting for the results of a test for Ebola.
The patient can only communicate with her relatives through a clear plastic observation window. Her identity is secret, to protect her from being ostracized by locals fearful of Ebola infection. Her children have also been tested but, for now, show no symptoms.
There is a vaccine and a treatment for Ebola, which have brought down the rate at which it kills.
But the question at the back of everyone s mind is: What if this woman doesn t have Ebola? What if, instead, she is patient zero of Disease X, the first known infection of a new pathogen that could sweep the world as fast as Covid-19, but one that has Ebola s 50% to 90% fatality rate?
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