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At least 115 fishermen are being treated in Guinea's capital, Conakry, after returning from sea with painful skin lesions.

"It's not a contagious disease - no way", says Karamba Kaba, the doctor in charge of Donka Hospital's burns department, adding:

"We read on social media that there is a 'mysterious disease that has appeared' [but] people need to be reassured. We are sure that it is a chemical burn, meaning a burn by contact with a corrosive body."
We read on social media that there is a 'mysterious disease that has appeared' [but] people need to be reassured. We are sure that it is a chemical burn, meaning a burn by contact with a corrosive body."

Hospitals are providing free healthcare to anybody coming forward with these burns.

Treatment begins with a blood test and samples are being analysed in laboratories in Conakry. Patients' wounds are also disinfected to allow them to heal.

Some people have had the lesions on their faces, others on their stomachs or genitals, and there are fears that some sufferers are scared to come forward for treatment.

According to a doctor based on an island 50km (31 miles) from Conakry, seven other sick fishermen presented themselves to the island's health service but refused to go to specialised care centre in Conakry for treatment.