"Can I hug you?" community nurse Joyce Jebambula asks with a smile as she welcomes me back to her village. "Of course," I say as I put my arms around her. It's an unbelievable moment. Just at the height of the outbreak more than a year ago, there was an "avoid body contact" rule here. It's now been removed. One of the most challenging parts of reporting this outbreak over the past 18 months is that I haven't been able to touch anyone in the worst-affected countries. When Ebola  survivors described in tears describing losing their families, I had to almost sit on my hands to avoid reaching out to comfort them. The outbreak was declared over in Sierra Leone on 7 November. I returned for the celebrations. But despite reaching this long-awaited milestone, all is not well. Ibrahim Koroma, 21, clings to his survivor's certificate outside the home. All 17 of his family are now dead. The certificate is one of his most prized possessions. "He does not pose any risk to the community" it reads. Ibrahim tells me how his landlord has allowed him to stay in one of the rooms of his former family home until the end of the year. He says he doesn't know what he'll do after that. He does some part-time work, relying heavily on help from neighbours. His two little sisters and little brother died in the very room where he now sleeps. He says he often lies awake thinking about them, feeling very bad. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was the worst on record. In past outbreaks there had only been a few hundred deaths and a few hundred survivors. It was thought Ebola could live for only three months. But research has now shown it can linger for at least nine months. Scientists are still trying to find how long it could be infectious. When interviewing Ebola survivors the author   _  .
couldn't touch them with hands kept comforting them with hands held their hands to show sympathy couldn't help comforting them with hands