People healed of Ebola and their psychosocial life: About 55 cases at the Donka treatment center (Conakry)

Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is often a severe and fatal disease. The objective of this study is to identify the psychological and social problems as well as the needs of people cured of Ebola. This work is a prospective, cross-sectional, descriptive study done within a period of three months, from 16 November 2014 to 15 February 2015. The population of this research consists of those who were infected by and cured of Ebola; they were 18 years and above and were both males and females. They have received treatment at Donka (CET) and are members of those affected and healed in Guinea (A.PE.GU.AEG); they were in Conakry during the study period and gave their consent to participate in our study. Of a total of 72 members, 55 (76.39%) met the inclusion criteria of this study. The average age was 29.9 ± 11.33 years [18-66 years] with a male predominance, sex ratio = 1.2. The average duration of isolation was 16 days with extremes of 6 and 25 days. The main psychological disorders experienced by people healed of Ebola are: fear, 85.45%; revivability, 43.64%; nightmare, 63.64%; stress, 56.36%; anxiety, 49.10%; insomnia, 45.45%; withdrawal, 43.63%; insomnia, 45.45%; distrust, 41.82%; discouragement, 41.82%; and those that want to die, 41.82%. On the social level, stigmatization from the neighborhood was 90.91% and distrust 58.18%. This study shows that people infected by and cured of Ebola suffer many psychological and behavioral disorders. Stigma and distrust are the major social problems.