Cured but still contagious: How mixed messages on sexual transmission and breastfeeding may help Ebola spread

When Romelie Kawgho’s boyfriend returned from his Ebola checkup in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in January, he told her he was cured. The 25-year-old Ebola survivor had been discharged from a treatment centre three months earlier and insisted on having unprotected sex with her.

Although doctors urged the couple to use a condom for a year, Kawgho’s boyfriend assured her he was fine. Months later, after repeatedly having unprotected sex, 19-year-old Kawgho found herself in an Ebola isolation ward fighting for her life.

Now an Ebola survivor herself, she wishes she had been better informed.


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