Victim of TB or Ebola?

A 38 year-old man commonly identified as Karlu is feared dead after he physically collapsed Thursday, December 11, 2014 on Benson Street, central Monrovia in a pool of blood. Health authorities have not established the health condition of the victim, but it is believed that he might have suffered from the disease Tuberculosis, as he coughed severely before vomiting with blood profusely.

However, a team from the Government Ebola Response Unit arrived on the scene later yesterday to take the body away for examination. The NewDawn heard from bystanders that Karlu lived in the Center Street community in Monrovia for several years, where he bought scraps and other materials and made coal pots for sale to make a living.

One of his friends, Junior Kollie, also told this paper that the victim had lived with Tuberculosis for more than five years, and was taken to the TB Annex in Congo Town for medication before the Ebola crisis here. But he later ran away from the center. According to Kollie, the deceased’s brother also died of Tuberculosis last year. He said as a friend, he advised the victim many times to return to the annex and complete his treatment, but the late Karlu always refused, adding, “He will look fine and later his condition will go worse.”

An unknown man, who claimed to have known Karlu, said the victim was also a drug addict, and because of that habit he was always sickly.  He said Karlu friends told him to eat before taking in substances, but he never heeded the pieces of advice as he went ahead and took drugs without eating.

“He was seen walking along the road, coughing and later started vomiting blood, and could not stand or walk anymore; then he fell on his face and died with thick blood oozing from his mouth”, the friend narrated.