Psychosocial and Health Impact on the Healed People of Ebola in the City of Forecariah

Abstract

Introduction: Ebola virus disease is one of the most serious viral diseases known to man. It belongs to the filovirus family, with a case-fatality rate of 25% to 90%. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychosocial and health impact of Ebola virus disease on people who have been cured. Method:This was a descriptive study of transversal type extending over a period of 3 months and focused on people cured of the Ebola virus disease of Forecariah prefecture.Results: During the study period, we recorded 114 people cured of the Ebola virus disease in Forecariah prefecture, among whom we interviewed 101 people cured of Ebola virus disease (89%). The socio-demographic characteristics of these healed people were: those of cures whose age ranged between 27-37 years with a frequency of 32.7% and extremes of 5-55 years. There was a female predominance with a sex ratio of 0.80 for women. Malaria was the most dominant antecedent. Social withdrawal 89.1%, moral pain 72.2% and strong sense of guilt 45.5% were the most common psychiatric symptoms in cured people. The dominant somatic symptoms found were headache 36.6%; while defamation 82.1% was the most dominant type of stigma.