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Inside the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in DRC as the virus spreads
🇪🇬 Egypt /Health & Science

Inside the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in DRC as the virus spreads

From Egypt Independent · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has spread to urban areas, with over 900 suspected cases and 177 deaths linked to the virus.
  • Local residents and health officials are battling not only the epidemic but also misinformation and lax attitudes towards preventative measures like face masks.
  • The World Health Organization has raised the risk level for the outbreak, warning that case numbers are expected to increase.

In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of the latest Ebola outbreak, residents like Hélène Akilimali are taking precautions, including wearing face masks, but face challenges from widespread misinformation and denial.

Ebola is a real disease. People need to stop deluding themselves.

— Hélène AkilimaliA cocoa seller in eastern DRC, emphasizing the reality of the Ebola virus and the dangers of denial.

"Ebola is a real disease. People need to stop deluding themselves," Akilimali, a cocoa seller, told a journalist. She noted that while she wears a mask, she cannot control her customers' behavior. "You're not going to chase them away." Locals in the heavily impacted Ituri and North Kivu provinces are struggling with a delayed response to the epidemic and a "cavalier attitude towards face masks."

I always wear my face mask. But as for the customers, when they come, they may or may not be wearing face masks. You’re not going to chase them away.

— Hélène AkilimaliDescribing the challenges of enforcing preventative measures in her daily work.

"As we see people dying, we used to think it was a joke, but now we can see that it's real," said Élie Ilunga, a resident of Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province. "The disease is definitely here." The World Health Organization reported over 900 suspected cases and 177 deaths linked to the outbreak. The virus has spread from rural areas to cities like Bunia and Goma, and neighboring Uganda has also recorded cases and deaths.

As we see people dying, we used to think it was a joke, but now we can see that it’s real. The disease is definitely here.

— Élie IlungaA resident of Bunia, expressing the shift in local perception as the outbreak's severity becomes undeniable.

The WHO has raised the risk level to "very high" in the DRC and "high" regionally, warning that case numbers are expected to "keep increasing, given the amount of time the virus was circulating before the outbreak was detected." Tensions have flared, with relatives of an Ebola victim attempting to forcibly remove the body from a hospital, leading to a fire and subsequent restrictions on public gatherings and wakes. Health officials are concerned that traditional funeral practices, where corpses are highly infectious, can rapidly spread the virus.

Those who doubt are perhaps those who haven’t experienced this (death) yet or whose families haven’t been affected yet.

— Élie IlungaExplaining the reasons behind continued skepticism among some residents.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Egypt Independent. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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