Commentary: I survived Ebola. This is what scares me most about this outbreak

In 2015, after surviving Ebola, I returned to Guinea with Doctors Without Borders. I distinctly remember CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) colleagues working side by side, tracking the outbreak and chasing down new cases. 

Such collaboration would be much more difficult today; ever since the Trump administration withdrew from the WHO, CDC staff members have been barred from working with the organisation.

The United States cannot quickly reverse our abdication of leadership on the global health stage. But we can bolster our response to this crisis.

There should be a steadfast commitment to working closely and coordinating with essential partners like the WHO. We need to mobilise funding and experts, speed up the development of new treatments, and increase resources for protective equipment and expanded testing.

I’ve responded to many outbreaks and conflicts, but treating Ebola patients was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Ebola is a cruel and horrific disease. I’d often speak to patients in the morning and come back in the afternoon to find them dead.

In 2014, I treated two brothers, just 6 and 8 years old. After their mother died, their grandfather brought them to our treatment centre. When I first met them, they were rambunctious and relentlessly smiling. We found them toys to play with, and every day I encouraged them to eat, drink and rest. 

Over the next week, both rapidly declined. I was in their room when they died. 

Weeks later, when I was in the hospital with Ebola myself, I thought of them every day. And 12 years later, I still start crying as I think about losing them.

Craig Spencer is an emergency medicine physician and an associate professor at the Brown University School of Public Health, where he is an affiliated faculty member of the Pandemic Center. He is also a faculty fellow at the Watson School of International and Public Affairs. The article originally appeared in The New York Times.