As Ebola Spreads, The DRC Struggles To Contain It

As Ebola Spreads, the DRC Struggles to Contain It DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO At the epicenter of the latest Ebola outbreak, doctors despair. At Mongbwalu General Hospital’s Ebola ward, patients young and old languish, and some are already dead. In a nearby ward, medical personnel lie sick and dying, after treating patients without protective gear, which is hard to come by in the town of Mongbwalu in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Relatives come at all hours, bringing food for the sick because there is none at the hospital, or wailing in grief because their loved one has died. No one here has ever dealt with Ebola or even knows how to. Prior outbreaks had passed them by. As a result, local medical personnel couldn’t identify what was killing the people of their town for weeks. Now, the hospital, which finds itself in the middle of a growing crisis, is understaffed, under-resourced and overwhelmed. Alex Bogole, a Congolese doctor in the intensive care department of the hospital, told the New York Times he is angry. The virus had been spreading for months, virtually unimpeded, “and this is the best we can do?” he wondered. He’s referring to the slow response by the government and the world. “They hold meetings and meetings,” he said. “What is the purpose of these meetings? People are dying, people are getting infected, people are in danger. It’s very slow.” The latest outbreak of Ebola was declared in the middle of May. But medical officials believe it’s been spreading for months undetected. Now they worry that it’s going to surpass the death toll of the last major outbreak: From 2014 to 2016, Ebola killed more than 11,000 people out of nearly 29,000 infected in West Africa. It was the largest and deadliest outbreak in history. To date, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported 635 confirmed cases and 127 deaths from the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. Uganda has reported 19 confirmed cases and two deaths. There is no licensed vaccine or specific treatment for this strain. Now, scientists are scrambling to develop vaccines and treatments to stop Bundibugyo from spreading further. The location of this outbreak is making it difficult, however. Mongbwalu is in Ituri province, a volatile region being fought over by armed groups, all competing for access to its gold and other minerals. It is part of the wider conflict zone in eastern Congo, where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have seized large amounts of territory and are currently fighting government troops. As a result, Mongbwalu attracts people from other areas displaced by the fighting, as well as those seeking work mining gold or selling to those who do. But as people come and go, they could easily spread Ebola, officials say. Meanwhile, traditional burial practices in the Congo and elsewhere often involve family members touching the body of the deceased. But that can transmit the virus, doctors say. Officials have restricted traditional burials but those orders are being defied. As a result, violence has broken out at the hospital and others in the region. In late May, dozens of locals attempted to storm the hospital to reclaim their loved ones’ remains. It was the third attack in a week. It also sent Ebola patients fleeing, potentially spreading the disease. At the same time, some locals believe Ebola is a hoax. One conspiracy theory is that nonprofit workers brought the disease to make money. Another is that the outbreak has been fabricated to frighten the population and gain access to minerals, including gold. “We are looking at a lot of superstition and misinformation around this disease,” Saki Roger, a Congolese neurosurgeon who contracted Ebola during a prior outbreak in 2018 while treating a patient, told the Washington Post. Roger recounted how people with the illness are often rejected by their families. Some infected people also shun the few health facilities that exist in the region. “Instead of coming to healthcare services, (the sick) take alternative solutions with traditional healers or other alternatives, and contribute further to spread the outbreak,” said Abdou Sebushishe, a medical doctor with the International Medical Corps in Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in an interview with CBS News. Meanwhile, the US has moved to set up a facility in central Kenya for Americans exposed to the virus, setting off outrage across the country. Davji Atellah, a physician from the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, said the group would not “sit back and watch Kenya be treated as a containment colony.” “If it is too dangerous for America, it is too dangerous for Kenya,” he said. While the government agreed to the proposal, a Kenyan court said no – at least for now. Protests broke out over the issue this month, with demonstrators saying they don’t want Kenya to become a dumping ground for wealthy sick foreigners. Two people have died in the protests. In Nanyuki, where the facility is to be located, locals worry about becoming infected with Ebola, which has not been reported in Kenya. They are also concerned about what Ebola infections could do to their lives, their livelihoods and their children, citing curfews and a disruption of business and education. “What’s shocking is that the Americans don’t want their infected fellow citizens to step into their own country but to come to Kenya, David Mulinge, a souvenir seller, told the Guardian. “That’s like treating us as lesser beings.”