Six survivors of the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria spoke to Canadian doctor Eilish Cleary about what it took to beat the notoriously lethal virus. In detailed, videotaped interviews, they described their struggle to drink as much as six litres per day of water with oral rehydration solution to prevent dehydration and the other complications of Ebola.

The Nigerians had advantages over most patients in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Four are doctors, one is a nurse and another is the fiancée of a nurse who died of Ebola. All were monitoring themselves for symptoms after the death of Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American diplomat who brought the virus to First Consultant Hospital in Lagos in late July and infected his caretakers.

"These people were identified early. They were isolated early. And they were treated early. They had fluids pushed early," Dr. Cleary, New Brunswick's chief medical officer of health, said in an interview from Ireland after her stint in Nigeria ended. She travelled to Nigeria to help with epidemiological work to control the outbreak there.

Dr. Cleary shared videos and transcripts of her interviews with six survivors. Here are four of their stories: