Joseph Fair is an American virologist who currently works as a consultant at the World Health Organization headquarters in Sierra Leone. The Washington Post reports that Fair loves chasing dangerous pathogens, and was originally excited to travel to Sierra Leone to advise Sierra Leone's government on a tiny Ebola outbreak. At the time, he had no idea that Ebola would explode into the current pandemic that it is today. Currently, the number of Ebola cases has surpassed 4,000.

Fair commented, "This is the big one no one expected," conveying how humbling the experience was for him and many other virologists who had underestimated the initial outbreaks. Fair is exhausted: he works seven days a week, has put on 15 pounds, and has seen many friends and fellow workers die from the deadly disease.

To make matters worse, the staff on call during the outbreak is dwindling. WebMD reports that many local doctors and nurses have stopped showing up to work. Fair explained in a telephone interview, "They're scared to death... this is just like battle, right? You either have people who run into the danger or people who run away from it."

For those that do stay, working conditions are unpredictable, and stretch many doctors and nurses to their breaking points. Fair says the outbreak is hazardous to health workers because it is a "perfect storm" of conditions. He stated, "You can't control when someone is going to vomit on you. You can't control working a 90-hour work week."

Governments are under pressure, too. According to the Washington Post, Sierra Leone's health minister, whose job was to officially direct the national Ebola response, lost her job last month. No one expected the pandemic, as all previous outbreaks had occurred in remote rural areas. Now it is sweeping through urban areas.

 Next Friday, Sierra Leone will shut down for three days - a measure that has never been taken before - in order to enact a forced quarantine and allow aid workers to hunt for overlooked infections and educate citizens about the disease. Hopefully, more attention will be drawn to the disease, and important messages about how Ebola is spread and how it can be stopped will be reinforced.