Trainee clinical scientist returns to UK after helping fight ebola for the second time

Stephen Kidd, a microbiology STP trainee, recently returned to the UK after spending five weeks in Sierra Leone helping in the ongoing fight against Ebola.

This was his second trip to the country since the start of the outbreak, and he was pleased to see the people of Sierra Leone starting to get on with their lives and get back to normal “the people were very friendly and happy for British workers to be there, despite not having much themselves”. This time round he was training local hospital staff and doing surveillance and epidemiology. Sierra Leone, one of three countries that was affected with the virus, was officially declared Ebola free at the start of November 2015. Hundreds of people were affected by this latest outbreak and even though Ebola is now under control Stephen added “the problem isn’t over despite being declared Ebola-free, people are still dying from Malaria”.

The government are rewarding military and civilian personnel who tackled the deadly disease with an Ebola medal and Stephen will be one of the ones honoured with this accolade “we had heard that the government might be handing out medals, but it was still very unexpected and I am very chuffed”.

Stephen is based at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.