'Ebola has tortured us': Fear grips eastern DR Congo as deadly virus spreads

The health minister has acknowledged that medics are playing catch-up with the virus after being slow to detect it. 'Ebola has tortured us': Fear grips eastern DR Congo as deadly virus spreads WHO 'deeply concerned' about scale and speed of Ebola outbreak Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. At least 136 people are believed to have died during the Ebola outbreak A person wearing a mask and peach headwrap is having their temperature checked with a contactless thermometer near their ear. it reads 36.3 degrees. Fear has gripped Ebola-hit areas in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as the suspected number of deaths continues to rise, as officials say they are struggling to catch up to an outbreak that may have previously been spreading undetected. "Ebola has tortured us," says a taxi rider in his late twenties in the gold-mining town of Rwampara. "I am scared because people are dying very fast... We are really afraid." Following a visit to Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, over the weekend, Congolese Health Minister Dr Samuel Roger Kamba acknowledged health teams are playing catch-up with the virus, which may have been circulating earlier than first detected on 24 April. The presumed patient zero is a nurse who died in the provincial capital Bunia, but was buried in Mongwalu, also a gold-mining town. Most of the suspected cases and deaths have been reported there and in neighbouring Rwampara. Rwampara resident Fred Kiza told the BBC that "there is fear", which he calls "normal when there's a disease like this." "It would be good if they gave us masks to protect ourselves." Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization Director-General As of Tuesday, there were 514 suspected cases, with 136 people believed to have died from the virus, officials said. One person has also died in neighbouring Uganda. Cases have also been identified in Butembo city and rebel-controlled Goma in North Kivu province, as well as in South Kivu province. Health officials say that several deaths occurred in the community without being reported to the authorities, meaning they could not be investigated at the time. According to the health ministry, formal community alerts were only registered from 8 May. "At community level, this hasn't been effective," Dr Kamba explained. "It means someone may have died before him [the presumed index case], or someone else may have been sick before him, but no one reported it." He added: "We really need to look within the community to understand what happened - how people became ill and sometimes even died without any report being filed." The outbreak has been caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. DR Congo - which is currently facing its 17th outbreak of Ebola - is more familiar with the Zaïre species. Bundibugyo has caused only two outbreaks before - in 2007 and 2012 - where it killed around 30% of people infected. Dr Kamba explained the symptoms: "There is heavy bleeding everywhere, very high fever. But Bundibugyo can show fewer obvious signs, which delays diagnosis because people think, 'No, this is just malaria.'" That delay, officials say, may have allowed the virus to spread silently. In Mongwalu, some deaths were attributed not to illness, but to witchcraft. The belief became known locally as the "coffin phenomenon" - the idea that anyone who touched the coffin of a deceased person would also die. Map of eastern DR Congo and Uganda showing areas affected by an Ebola outbreak. Shaded red regions mark locations with reported cases, concentrated in Ituri province, including Mongwalu, Rwampara, Nyakunde, and nearby Bunia, identified as the site of the first suspected case. Additional smaller affected areas are shown around Butembo, Goma near the Rwanda border, and a location near Kampala in Uganda, where cases were confirmed in travellers from DR Congo. A locator inset highlights the region within Africa. International charity Save the Children said the Bundibugyo strain has not been seen in Ituri before. The limited testing that was available in the province was testing for the Zaïre strain and not coming up positive. "By the time the Bundibugyo strain was detected, it had already spread quite far. We are in a game of catch-up," its DR Congo representative Greg Ramm said in a statement. Authorities warn that the spread of the virus into large urban centres presents serious challenges. Despite Dr Kamba's visit to Bunia over the weekend, residents feel that progress to curb the spread of the virus has been slow. "If there's no treatment centre here in the capital," one resident asked, "then what about other areas?" Bunia in Ituri, and Butembo and Goma in North Kivu, are home to hundreds of thousands of people, yet none has a fully operational Ebola treatment centre five days into the declaration of the outbreak. Residents in Goma - eastern DR Congo's biggest city - tell the BBC that basic public health measures, such as avoiding handshakes, limiting gatherings and regular handwashing, are widely ignored. "I'm heading to the border to report on people stranded there," said José Mutanava, a local journalist. "I'm wearing a face mask, but not many people are." Another resident, who asked not to be named, said: "Nobody can follow the barrier measures - maybe only when we see more deaths. Today in the city centre I saw only four people wearing masks." Others say daily survival takes priority. "It's too much to ask people struggling to eat to follow these rules," one resident said. A medic checks the temperature of a woman, using a contactless infrared thermometer. Only the arm of the medic, who is wearing white, is shown. The woman having her temperature checked has her hair in braids. She is wearing a bright blue top with a pattern and is standing next to a blue wooden door with a white and blue building in the background. What is Ebola and why is stopping the latest outbreak so difficult? The image shows three individuals in the foreground wearing full-body protective suits in bright yellow, along with white hoods, face masks, and gloves. Two of the individuals are helping adjust or fasten the protective gear of a third person, focusing on securing the hood or mask around the head and neck area. The setting is outdoors, with a blurred crowd of people and buildings visible in the background, suggesting a public or community environment. Additional people in the background are also wearing protective clothing. The lighting is natural daylight, and the scene emphasizes careful preparation and attention to safety procedures. How worrying is the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo? Eastern DR Congo is badly hit by conflict, bringing additional difficulties in dealing with the virus. Save the Children said the Ebola outbreak is a "new massive crisis on top of an already difficult situation". "It is in an area of conflict, an area of humanitarian crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced, and healthcare systems are already severely compromised," it added. Currently, four of the affected areas are in Ituri province: Mongwalu, the epicentre of the outbreak, as well as Bunia, Rwampara and Nyakunde. In North Kivu, Goma is controlled by the M23 rebel group, while the province's second largest city, Butembo, is also affected by militia activity. Goma, the main trading hub in eastern DR Congo, is controlled by rebel forces Two armed soldiers standing in front of a lab. In front of the door is a doctor in protective clothing. The US has announced $13m (£9.7m) in emergency assistance for DR Congo and Uganda and says it is considering further funding through the UN's pooled humanitarian fund, alongside travel restrictions linked to the outbreak. An American national, Dr Peter Stafford, is among the infected after he tested positive while working at Nyakunde Hospital in Ituri. The doctor, his wife and another colleague had been treating patients when the outbreak started, Serge, the Christian missionary group they were working for, has said. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a US national was evacuated to Germany for treatment, adding that it is working to evacuate at least six other Americans who were exposed. On Sunday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, after confirmed cases were reported on 15 May. For now, Congolese authorities say they are relying on hard‑learned experience, and public‑health measures, to confront what is now the country's 17th Ebola outbreak. The image shows three individuals in the foreground wearing full-body protective suits in bright yellow, along with white hoods, face masks, and gloves. American who contracted Ebola in DR Congo evacuated for treatment A Congolese health worker in blue medical gowns checks the temperature of a woman in green carrying a baby at the Grande Barrier border following confirmation of an Ebola outbreak in the Congo Ebola outbreak may be spreading faster than first thought, WHO doctor warns A woman looking at her mobile phone and the graphic BBC News Africa Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Hundreds of cases are suspected in central Africa but experts fear the actual number may be much higher. An outbreak of Ebola in DR Congo involves a rare strain and is in an area affected by conflict. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak an international emergency. A medical group says an American doctor tested positive after being exposed while treating patients. The government and transport operators are in talks to resolve the dispute over the hike in fuel prices. Thousands of commuters are stranded, with key roads in the capital Nairobi largely empty due to the protests over fuel costs. The agency added that the outbreak, with around 246 cases and 80 deaths, does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency. The private world of one of Africa's most powerful political women is revealed in a BBC World Service exclusive.