Edgar Hernandez - who has since recovered - fell sick on April 2 - nearly two weeks before anybody even knew the virus existed.

'I feel great,' he said today. 'But I had a headache and a sore throat and a fever for a while. I had to lie down in bed.'

His mother, Maria, 34, said: 'I have very good faith in God, but I was so worried. I couldn't sleep because I had to be by his side taking care of him all the time.'

Edgar is from the village of La Gloria, whose residents say officials ignored their warnings of an unexplained outbreak for weeks.