Ebola fears surge on the ground in Congo over rapid spread of a rare type

BUNIA, Congo, May 21, (AP): Anxious healthcare workers in eastern Congo said Wednesday they are underprotected and undertrained in a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak of a rare type of the virus in one of the world’s most remote and vulnerable places. Long the scene of attacks by an array of armed groups, the region's volatility now further complicates efforts to handle the crisis.

Local leaders said an attack by militants linked to the Islamic State group killed at least 17 people on Tuesday night in Alima village in Ituri, a province that has become the hot spot of the outbreak. The World Health Organization, which noted a low risk globally, has said "patient zero” has not been found.

"It’s truly sad and painful because we’ve already been through a security crisis, and now Ebola is here too,” said Justin Ndasi, a Bunia resident, Tons of health supplies have been airlifted to Bunia, where the first known death was announced last week, but residents said masks are harder to find and some disinfectants that previously sold for 2,500 Congolese francs (about $1) now cost four times more.

At a treatment center in Rwampara, families cried and watched as healthcare workers in protective gear silently disinfected the bodies of their loved ones - suspected Ebola victims - and placed them into coffins for secure burial sites. The disease struck suddenly, they said, describing a rapid deterioration after symptoms were mistaken for illnesses such as malaria.

"He told me his heart was hurting,” said Botwine Swanze, who lost her son. "Then he started crying because of the pain. ... Then he started bleeding and vomiting a lot.” The Ebola virus is highly contagious and spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding.

WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, worried over its "scale and speed.” The WHO chief in Congo says it could last at least two months. The rare type of Ebola, known as the Bundibugyo virus, spread undetected for weeks following the first known death while authorities tested for another, more common Ebola virus and came up negative.

Investigations continued into where and when the outbreak started, but "given the scale, we are thinking that it has started probably a couple of months ago,” said Anaïs Legand, with WHO's emergencies program. So far, 51 cases have been confirmed in Congo’s northern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, and two cases in Uganda, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday. There are 139 suspected deaths and almost 600 suspected cases.