Gulu has two hospitals, one run by the government and a second run by Italian missionaries. Both are well organised by the standards of the Third World but hopelessly underprepared for an outbreak of ebola. The region is desperately poor, with dirt roads connecting countless mud hut settlements where locals eke out a living on maize, cassava and sorghum. The virus cannot be spread in the air, but is highly infectious to anyone who comes into contact with the body fluids of a victim. The tiniest smear of sweat or splash of blood can pass it on.
Hospitals are among the most dangerous places as a patient's condition worsens.
Scientists still don't know where ebola comes from, although it is suspected to reside in bats that live deep in the jungle of western Congo. Ugandan troops coming back from recent fighting there might have brought it to Gulu. But scientists still have no proof. Suspicion of ebola grew when two trainee nurses and a doctor at the Lachor mission hospital fell ill, showing the same symptoms as Esther. I saw her in the hospital but it was over quickly.