Ebola survivor shunned by boyfriend, even school

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="cover-wrap " style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 30px; text-align: center; width: 718px;"> <div class=""> <div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"> <figure class=" cover get-lbdata-from-dom go-to-slideshow-lightbox " data-id="e57c9a26-de53-3875-857b-bdd3df245bb7" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div> <a data-rapid_p="6" data-ylk="rspns:xpnd;t1:a3;t2:ct-mod;t3:ld;sec:ct-mod;slk:expand;elm:img;elmt:ct;itc:1;grpt:;edtr_vos:;g:;aid:e57c9a26-de53-3875-857b-bdd3df245bb7;ct:4;cpos:1;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-survivor-shunned-boyfriend-even-school-171433631.html#" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="In this photo taken Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, Sulaiman Kemokai a Ebola virus survivor near his house in the Heigbema Village in Kenema situated in the Eastern Province around 300km, (186 miles), from the capital city of Freetown in Kenema, Sierra Leone. In Sierra Leone, Sulaiman Kemokai, 20, was released from an Ebola treatment center on Sunday after spending 25 days in a ward there. He still feels stiffness in his joints but says he is gaining strength each day. (AP Photo/ Michael Duff)" class="inview" height="379px" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/H1s7cRu3p9q3V_yPY0Hu.w--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTM3OTtweG9mZj01MDtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz02NzQ-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/ca592bd28e8c981f5c0f6a7067004ba4.jpg" style="-webkit-transform: translate3d(0px, 0px, 0px); -webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; min-height: 1px; opacity: 1 !important; text-align: left; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important; width: 718px;" width="674px" /></span></a></div> <span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-small" style="background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 7px; border-bottom-right-radius: 7px; border-top-left-radius: 7px; border-top-right-radius: 7px; cursor: pointer; height: 45px; left: 50%; margin-left: -32px; margin-top: -23px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; top: 50%; width: 64px; z-index: 1;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">.</span></span></figure><ul class="thumbstrip-overlay clearfix " style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.16s linear; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 10px 10px; position: absolute; transition: background-color 0.16s linear; zoom: 1;"> <li class="go-to-slideshow-lightbox get-lbdata-from-dom image" data-uuid="e48f7980-f3c2-33ea-ac53-115f22b1bbba" style="border: 1px solid rgb(58, 58, 58); cursor: pointer; float: left; list-style: none; margin-right: 10px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 100px;"><div class="img-wrap-16x9" style="height: 0px; padding-bottom: 56px; position: relative;"> <a data-rapid_p="7" data-ylk="rspns:xpnd;t1:a3;t2:ct-mod;t3:ld;sec:ct-mod;slk:expand;elm:tl;elmt:ct;itc:1;g:259263ad-bfe3-38bd-83af-490ad2955473;aid:e48f7980-f3c2-33ea-ac53-115f22b1bbba;ct:4;cpos:1;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-survivor-shunned-boyfriend-even-school-171433631.html#" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;"><img class="inview" data-src-2x="" height="83.25" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/1uSKlkkeupYqSdHeR1Nezg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTgzLjI1O3B5b2ZmPTA7cT03NTt3PTE0OA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/c88379038e8b981f5c0f6a706700c7b7.jpg" style="-webkit-transform: translateZ(0px); -webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; min-height: 1px; opacity: 1 !important; text-align: left; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important; width: 100px;" width="148" /></span></a></div> <span class="icon-white-slideshow-tiny icon-slideshow" style="background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; bottom: 3px; cursor: pointer; height: 14px; left: 3px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; width: 20px; z-index: 1;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">.</span></span></li> <li class="go-to-slideshow-lightbox get-lbdata-from-dom image" data-uuid="f26d7f70-9f4b-32dd-a71f-723e67db8a54" style="border: 1px solid rgb(58, 58, 58); cursor: pointer; float: left; list-style: none; margin-right: 10px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 100px;"><div class="img-wrap-16x9" style="height: 0px; padding-bottom: 56px; position: relative;"> <a data-rapid_p="8" data-ylk="rspns:xpnd;t1:a3;t2:ct-mod;t3:ld;sec:ct-mod;slk:expand;elm:tl;elmt:ct;itc:1;g:259263ad-bfe3-38bd-83af-490ad2955473;aid:f26d7f70-9f4b-32dd-a71f-723e67db8a54;ct:4;cpos:1;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/ebola-survivor-shunned-boyfriend-even-school-171433631.html#" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black;"><img class="inview" data-src-2x="" height="83.25" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/T0zqgbTCcKFPq8j.DdTUKw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTgzLjI1O3B5b2ZmPTA7cT03NTt3PTE0OA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/32b6709f8e67981f5c0f6a706700722b.jpg" style="-webkit-transform: translateZ(0px); -webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; min-height: 1px; opacity: 1 !important; text-align: left; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important; width: 100px;" width="148" /></span></a></div> <span class="icon-white-slideshow-tiny icon-slideshow" style="background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; bottom: 3px; cursor: pointer; height: 14px; left: 3px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; width: 20px; z-index: 1;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">.</span></span></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="body yom-art-content clearfix" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article" style="margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px 10px; zoom: 1;"> <div class="yom-ad yom-ad-LREC" id="yom-ad-LREC" style="border: none; clear: both; float: right; height: 250px; margin: 0px 0px 1.1em 10px; max-height: 250px; text-align: center; visibility: inherit; width: 300px;"> <div class="darla" id="sb_rel_yom-ad-LREC-iframe" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); display: inline-block; height: 250px; position: relative; visibility: inherit; width: 300px; z-index: 9;"> <iframe allowtransparency="true" async="" frameborder="no" hidefocus="true" id="yom-ad-LREC-iframe" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://l.yimg.com/rq/darla/2-8-1/html/r-sf.html" style="display: block; height: 250px; left: 0px; margin: 0px auto; max-height: none; max-width: none; min-height: 0px; position: absolute; text-align: left; top: 0px; visibility: inherit; width: 300px; z-index: 10;" tabindex="-1"></iframe></div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — The medical school professors no longer want Kadiatou Fanta in the classroom. Her boyfriend has broken up with her. Each day the 26-year-old eats alone and sleeps alone. Even her own family members are afraid to touch her months after she survived Ebola.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Long gone are the days when she was vomiting blood and wracked by fever. And even with a certificate of health declaring her as having recovered, she says it's still as though "Ebola survivor" is burned on her flesh.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Ebola has ruined my life even though I am cured," she says. "No one wants to spend a minute in my company for fear of being contaminated."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Ebola virus is only transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids of the sick, such as blood, saliva, urine, sweat or semen. When the first cases emerged in Guinea back in March, no one had ever confronted such a virulent and gruesome disease in this corner of Africa.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The current outbreak now has killed more than 1,000 people, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization. The fatality rate in previous Ebola outbreaks has been up to 90 percent, though health officials say this time up to half of victims are surviving.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While there is no specific treatment for Ebola, patients can be given supportive care such as intravenous fluids to keep them hydrated. If they can live long enough to develop antibodies to the virus they can survive, though they could still contract other strains of Ebola in the future, medical experts say.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Health workers hope that seeing living proof that people can survive Ebola will encourage fearful communities to get medical care instead of hiding the sick at home where they can infect relatives.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Sierra Leone, Sulaiman Kemokai, 20, was released from an Ebola treatment center on Sunday after spending 25 days there. He still feels stiffness in his joints but says he is gaining strength each day.</span></div> <div class="body-related" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 7.5px; margin-left: 7.5px; position: relative;"> <a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-pos="1" data-rapid_p="9" data-uuid="e48f7980-f3c2-33ea-ac53-115f22b1bbba" data-ylk="t1:a3;t2:ct-mod;t3:embd;sec:ct-mod;slk:expand;elm:img;elmt:ct;itc:1;g:259263ad-bfe3-38bd-83af-490ad2955473;aid:e48f7980-f3c2-33ea-ac53-115f22b1bbba;ct:4;cpos:1;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/lightbox/photo-taken-monday-aug-11-2014-sulaiman-kemokai-photo-164529476.html" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="In this photo taken Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, Sulaiman&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"> <span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: 0px; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span><img alt="In this photo taken Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, Sulaiman&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb inview" data-src-2x="" height="200" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/g7A.670HPGn82RD1hjAR5g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/c88379038e8b981f5c0f6a706700c7b7.jpg" style="-webkit-transform: translateZ(0px); -webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div> </a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In this photo taken Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, Sulaiman Kemokai a Ebola virus survivor stretches in fron …</span></div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"When I became sick, I was scared to go to hospital, I hid from my family, from health workers. After four days I couldn't hide anymore, I was too sick. An Ebola ambulance collected me and took me to the hospital," he recalls.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But some within his community are reluctant to have any physical contact with Kemokai. Those released from treatment centers are no longer contagious, though Ebola can still be present in men's semen for up to seven weeks.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Kemokai will have more family support than most: His older brother and sister also have survived Ebola, while the disease took their mother's life.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Fanta, the Guinean medical student, says she was working as an intern at a clinic in Conakry, the capital, when a patient came in from the provinces sick with what doctors initially thought was malaria. She took the man's vital signs — but as is common in Guinea — she had no protective gloves or face mask.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">About two weeks later, in mid-March, she started having diarrhea and soon was vomiting blood. She says her lasting troubles began when doctors declared her cured and discharged her from the isolation ward at the hospital in early April.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Although she no longer had the virus in her bloodstream, she still was visibly unwell after nearly three weeks in the hospital. Word of her sickness and return spread quickly in the poor suburb of Tanene where she was staying with extended family.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The boyfriend she used to see every day disappeared when he heard she had Ebola. Now he won't take her calls, even months later.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She tried to re-enroll with her medical school courses at Gamal Abdel Nasser University. In a sign of just how entrenched misconceptions are of Ebola, though, even the instructors did not want her in the classrooms, even though she handed them her certificate of health.</span></div> <div class="body-related" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 7.5px; margin-left: 7.5px; position: relative;"> <a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-pos="2" data-rapid_p="10" data-uuid="f26d7f70-9f4b-32dd-a71f-723e67db8a54" data-ylk="t1:a3;t2:ct-mod;t3:embd;sec:ct-mod;slk:expand;elm:img;elmt:ct;itc:1;g:259263ad-bfe3-38bd-83af-490ad2955473;aid:f26d7f70-9f4b-32dd-a71f-723e67db8a54;ct:4;cpos:2;" href="http://news.yahoo.com/lightbox/healthcare-worker-walks-near-ebola-isolation-unit-wearing-photo-160549175.html" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="A healthcare worker walks near a Ebola isolation&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"> <span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: 0px; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span><img alt="A healthcare worker walks near a Ebola isolation&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb inview" data-src-2x="" height="200" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/5L5x4xs0zduXFbY9vAiP4A--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/32b6709f8e67981f5c0f6a706700722b.jpg" style="-webkit-transform: translateZ(0px); -webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div> </a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A healthcare worker walks near a Ebola isolation unit wearing protective gear against the virus at K …</span></div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I still haven't taken my exams while my classmates have moved on to the next level," she laments. "The professors said they were going to grade me by telephone."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now she's living off what money her parents can scrape together to send her from their village, and still dreaming of when she can resume her courses.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I want to take care of patients," she says. "The reason I am alive today and speaking to you now is because doctors saved me."</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">___</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 1.1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Michael Duff in Kenema, Sierra Leone also contributed to this report.</span></div> <div> <br /></div> </div> </div>

Ebola survivor shunned by boyfriend, even school

. . . CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — The medical school professors no longer want Kadiatou Fanta in the classroom. Her boyfri...

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