Old wounds reopened

Mailen's father, Aldo Valle, came down with it after attending a birthday party.

"The person with the virus was just sitting at the same table as my dad. And at that table there were several people who got infected, and people died," Mailen recalled.

The wake for Valle was another locus of infection, where all three of his daughters got sick.

One sister died "within hours" of showing symptoms, while for the other, "we had to take her to the cemetery without a wake", Mailen said.