直擊埃博拉疫情：卡車堆滿屍體 如人間地獄

Tom Parry reports from the Ebola front line, where the World Health Organisation admits the death toll of 1,145 “underestimates the magnitude of the outbreak”.

Seven days ago Oliver Wilson drove his sick, shivering wife Layson to an isolation clinic for suspected cases of Ebola.

The 33-year-old nurse, knew from her symptoms that she had contracted the world’s most feared virus.

She knew also that she was about to die from the incurable disease.

But she had stopped short of telling Oliver.

And she deliberately didn’t hug their one-year-old son Oliver Junior as she walked alone through the quarantine tape surrounding the tin-roofed hospital unit.

Her fear that she could infect the tot through a drop of sweat or a stray tear was based on sound knowledge.

Yesterday grief-stricken Oliver wept and banged his head against the steering wheel of the family car as he watched Layson’s body chucked unceremoniously on to the back of a truck in a white plastic bag.

He had been denied the chance to say goodbye to his childhood sweetheart.

In a macabre scene, the corpses of seven other Ebola victims – including a six-year-old boy – were loaded on to the flatbed lorry.

I looked on aghast as grimly determined mortuary workers, clad head to toe in protective clothing, tipped Layson’s corpse off a stretcher – like earth from a wheelbarrow.

Here in the hellish Ebola zone of West Africa, the victims’ remains have to be cremated quickly as even the dead are contagious.

This is the heart-breaking drudgery of life in disease-racked Liberia, where the worst outbreak of this violent disease in history claims fresh lives daily.

The World Health Organisation admitted that the official death toll of 1,145 in the region “vastly underestimates the magnitude of the outbreak”.

For Oliver, a former UN aid worker, the swiftness of his beautiful wife’s decline remains impossible to understand.

Speaking through bursts of stifled sobs, he details with amazing clarity how Layson went down with the incredibly contagious Ebola virus.

I talk to Oliver from outside the cab of his 4x4 vehicle where he sits – through fear of getting too near to him.

My instinct would be to offer a sympathetic hand, but I have been told about the risks of getting too close to someone who might have embraced his Ebola-stricken wife 10 days before.

“I’m trying to be strong, but it’s so hard,” Oliver, 36, stammered. “She died on Saturday; yesterday evening.

“She caught Ebola at work, at the Catholic Hospital here in Monrovia. The hospital administrator had got ill.

“He tested positive for Ebola.

“It was my wife’s job to give him an ECG examination, to put the pads on his body.

"She knew she had to put plastic gloves on, but for a few seconds she was touching him with her hands, to help him get off the bed and on to a chair.

"That is how she got it. A few days later, that man died.

“It was on August 3, when we came home from church, that she complained of ­shivering, of feeling chilly.”

Oliver explained how Layson was determined not to be a burden, and so tried to get better with medicine she bought from a local chemist.

The middle-class couple, who wed in 2007, had always been active, outgoing members of the community.

Four years ago, they used their savings for a dream holiday in the United States, and Layson hankered after another trip abroad.

He proudly showed me a photograph of Layson on his mobile phone.

He snapped her posing in a snowbound street, a treasured memento. Layson desperately didn’t want to be ill.

She entered nursing in 2005, and had been promoted several times to obtain a senior position.

After Oliver lost his job at the UN, she became the family’s breadwinner. Now he has no idea how he will support their son.

“On the Monday evening she said she was too hot,” Oliver continued.

“She wanted cold water on a towel to put on her forehead. By Wednesday she had lost her appetite.

"On Thursday the weakness had got worse and she told me she felt nauseous.

“It was last Saturday that she became really ill. It was our son’s first birthday.

“She slept in the living room because I think she knew what was happening to her.

"She said, ‘Oliver, don’t touch me.’ She couldn’t touch Oliver Junior either, and she had to stop breastfeeding him instantly because it is contagious through all body fluids.

“She was so weak she couldn’t even sing Happy Birthday to our son.”

The symptoms Oliver described chart the classic, rapid downfall in healthy people caused by debilitating Ebola.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said Ebola started with fever, muscle aches, weakness, headaches and sore throat.

The next stage is often characterised by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash and malfunction of the liver and kidneys.

Worst of all, some patients have severe internal and external bleeding and multiple organ failure.

Survival rates are less than 40%, and there is no vaccine or treatment, although a trial is underway in Liberia.

That is why the capital Monrovia is currently gripped by paranoia and ­suspicion over the spread of the disease.

“I brought her here later that day, eight days ago,” Oliver said, as we wait outside the clinic for his wife’s final journey.

“Within a week she was dead. I never got a chance to say goodbye. I could only speak on the phone.

"The last time we spoke, she told me her heart had stopped beating too fast.

“She said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.’ Now I am here to watch her be carried out in a bag.”

The unemotional professionalism of the Red Cross workers hired to dispose of Ebola bodies is a shocking sight.

For Oliver, it must be unimaginably painful.

Security guards in front of the desperately overcrowded unit continue to chat while the bodies are loaded.

One woman laughed loudly, seemingly oblivious to the grim loading up process taking place behind her.

Throughout Monrovia there are huge advertising hoardings warning people of the dangers.

Yet in the filthy slums, many seem to be going about their Sunday afternoon business as normal.

Torrential rain fell all day, turning the shanty town tracks into a putrid quagmire.

It must be the ideal breeding ground for a virus so contagious a quick touch on the arm from a sufferer is apparently enough to spread it.

By the time you know you should have been more careful, it might already be too late.

Wracked by the loss of his beloved wife, Oliver also feared that he too might have Ebola.

Incubation can take up to 21 days. “I might have it,” Oliver admitted.

“I feel fine now, but it is very likely. Until she got Ebola, I didn’t understand how scary it is.

"Now I’m terrified for our son too.”

As the back panel on the truck carrying Layson’s body was slammed shut, Oliver shuddered.

A disease he had not heard of six months ago has ruined his life in less than a fortnight.據英國《鏡報》記者湯姆•派瑞(Tom Parry)8月17日報道，世界衛生組織承認“嚴重低估埃博拉疫情影響性”，目前該病已造成1145人死亡。

10日，奧利弗•威爾遜（Oliver Wilson）的妻子勞森（Layson）全身哆嗦，疑似感染埃博拉病毒，奧利弗遂將其送往隔離監護區。

33歲的護士勞森根據發病症狀判斷自己可能感染了世界上最可怕的病毒埃博拉。她深諳自己即將死於該不治之症。然而，她決定不告訴丈夫奧利弗。

當她獨自走過鐵皮屋頂醫院附近的隔離帶時，她不敢擁抱一歲大的兒子小奧利弗。

這種恐懼源於其健全的醫療知識，哪怕只是一滴汗水或眼淚都有可能將疾病傳染給她的孩子。

16日，當奧利弗看到妻子勞森的遺體被裝入白色塑料袋並被粗魯扔進卡車車廂時，他心碎欲絕，淚流滿面，用力將自己的頭撞在家庭汽車的方向盤上。

他始終無法獲得許可去見青梅竹馬戀人的最後一面。

這是一個令人毛骨悚然的場景：七具埃博拉病毒患者遺體被運往平板卡車，其中包括一名六歲男孩。

嚴肅堅定的殮房工人穿着從頭到腳的防護服，將勞森遺體從擔架卸下，像是從獨輪手推車卸下沙土一般。這一幕使我看得目瞪口呆。

在地獄般的西非埃博拉疫區，病毒感染者的遺體會傳染病毒，因此必須儘快將其遺體火化。

在疫情蔓延的利比里亞（Liberia），殮房工人是一份令人心碎的苦差。這場史上最嚴峻無情的疾病正日復一日地吞噬着鮮活的生命。

世界衛生組織承認“嚴重低估埃博拉疫情影響性”，目前該病已造成1145人死亡。

前聯合國救援工作者奧利弗至今無法接受，他與美麗妻子轉瞬陰陽相隔。

他不住地哽咽，詳細地描述了勞森如何感染極具傳染性的埃博拉病毒。

奧利弗坐在他4X4的車子裏。我在駕駛室外與他交談，避免太靠近他。

出於人的天性，我本想向他伸出同情之手，但先前曾有人提醒過我靠近奧利弗有一定風險，因爲他可能在10天前曾擁抱感染埃博拉病毒的妻子。

“我努力堅強起來，但那太難了。”36歲的奧利弗結結巴巴地說。她是週六去世的，就在昨晚。”

“她在蒙羅維亞（Monrovia）天主教醫院工作，在那裏感染了埃博拉病毒。醫院負責人之前已感染病毒。”

“他在埃博拉檢測中呈陽性反應。”

“我妻子的工作是爲他進行心電圖檢查，將儀器放在他身上。”

“她知道自己得戴上塑料手套，但由於要幫助病人下牀坐到椅子上，有幾秒鐘她的手會直接接觸到病人身體。”

“這就是她感染病毒的過程。幾天後，那個病人去世了。”

“8月3日，我們從教堂回到家裏，她開始抱怨覺得冷，還渾身哆嗦。”

奧利弗還談到，勞森如何決定不成爲他人負擔，所以從當地藥房購買藥品，希望儘快好轉。

2007年，這對中產階級夫妻結婚，他們一直是社區活躍外向的成員。

四年前，夫妻倆用存款實現了美國度假夢，此後勞森盼望能再一次到國外旅行。

他自豪地向我展示手機裏一張勞森的照片。

在大雪覆蓋的街道，他抓拍了一張勞森的身影，這是極爲珍貴的紀念。勞森極度渴望自己從未感染病毒。

2005年，勞森進入護理行業，此後多次獲得晉升，擔任了高層人員。

奧利弗失去聯合國的工作後，勞森成爲家庭主要經濟來源。如今，奧利弗不知道該如何撫養他們的兒子。

“4日夜晚，她說覺得很熱。”奧利弗繼續說道。

“她想要把冷水把毛巾弄溼，敷在額頭上。6日，她已經毫無食慾。”

“7日，她的身體變得更加虛弱，她跟我說覺得噁心想吐。”

“9日，她真的生病了，那天是我們兒子的一週歲生日。”

“她睡在客廳，我想那是因爲她知道即將發生什麼事。”

“她說：‘奧利弗，別碰我。’她也不能接觸小奧利弗，且不得不立刻停止給他餵奶，因爲所有體液都可能傳染病毒。”

“她十分虛弱，甚至沒有力氣爲我們的兒子唱生日歌。”

奧利弗描述的症狀具有典型性，埃博拉病毒能使健康人在短時間迅速變得虛弱。

歐洲疾病防控中心（the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control）表示，埃博拉病毒感染初期，會出現發燒、肌肉痠痛、身體虛弱、頭痛和喉嚨痛等症狀。中期常出現嘔吐、腹瀉、皮疹、肝功能失調和腎功能失調等症狀。在末期，患者會出現嚴重的內出血、外出血和多器官功能衰竭。

儘管有人在利比里亞進行相關試驗，但目前該病無任何疫苗或治癒方法，康復率低於40%。

因此，首都蒙羅維亞近日因疫情蔓延而陷入疑神疑鬼氣氛中。

“9日那天晚些時候，我把她帶到這兒。”奧利弗說道。他正在診所門外等候，目送妻子最後一程。

“短短一週，她就撒手人寰了。我沒有任何機會見她最後一面，只能在電話中與她交談。”

“最後一次通電時，她告訴我心跳恢復正常了。”

“她說：‘別擔心，我會康復的。如今，我卻在這兒看着她被裝進塑料袋裏被擡走。’”

紅十字會所僱傭處理埃博拉病毒感染者遺體的工作人員表現出冷靜沉着的敬業精神，着實令人震驚。

對奧利弗而言，這無疑是不可想象的喪妻之痛。

當工作人員忙着搬運遺體時，前方的保安人員繼續交談。一名女子喧譁大笑，看起來很明顯是針對她身後殘忍的運輸遺體過程。

蒙羅維亞隨處可見巨型圍牆廣告標語，警示民衆埃博拉疫情危險性。

然而，在骯髒的貧民窟，許多人似乎即將開始週日下午的生意，如同往常一樣。

暴雨持續了一整天，棚戶區變成了散發腐臭的沼澤地。這必定成爲埃博拉病毒繁殖傳播的理想溫牀。埃博拉病毒極具傳染性，即使只是碰了一下病人的手臂，也足以被感染。也許等你發現該小心謹慎時，一切都已無法挽回。

奧利弗飽受折磨，他不僅失去了心愛的妻子，而且害怕自己也可能感染了埃博拉病毒。該病潛伏期可長達21天。“我可能已經得病了。”奧利弗坦誠地說道。“我目前感覺良好，但很可能已經得病。直到勞森感染病毒，我才知道這病有多可怕。現在，我非常害怕兒子也得病了。”

當載着勞森遺體的卡車後板“砰”的一聲被關上時，奧利弗忍不住戰慄發抖。

半年前，奧利弗甚至不曾聽說過埃博拉。如今，埃博拉卻在短短兩週內摧毀了他的家庭。