 The Lassa ward was short @-@ staffed , and Conteh would often draw blood from patients himself . On 17 March 2004 , Conteh was infected with the Lassa virus when he received a needlestick injury while drawing blood from a young pregnant nurse suffering from the disease . The nurse died the next day , and Conteh himself became ill on 23 March . As his condition worsened , he was treated with intravenous ribavirin . Conteh initially survived the critical stage of Lassa fever , but died on 4 April from renal failure — 18 days after first becoming infected with the Lassa virus . Reporter Sulaiman <unk> described the outpouring of grief in the wake of Conteh 's death : 
