Ebola Response Workers are Killed in Congo

On Thursday, rebels attacked and killed several health workers responding to Ebola in eastern Congo. Health workers trying to contain the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history have been targeted in the past, but the current outbreak has been described by some observers as more complicated than any other. Several rebel groups are active in the region, and local officials have said that some of the insurgents believe that the reports of Ebola are a political trick. The three health workers were killed when Mai-Mai fighters attacked a center run by the United Nations health agency overnight in Biakato. Warnings had been posted earlier demanding that the health workers leave or face “the worst,” he said. The Ebola response was put on lockdown in Beni, dismaying health experts who say every attack hurts crucial efforts to contain the deadly virus.  The number of cases had been dropping in the yearlong outbreak, which has killed more than 2,100 people and was declared a global health emergency earlier this year. Several days this month, zero cases were reported, but cases have surged after attacks on health workers and facilities. The health agency could previously trace more than 90 percent of contacts of infected people in the city, but that figure has dropped to 17 percent, a United Nations spokesman said. Despite two promising new Ebola vaccines, health workers continue to battle misinformation and reluctance to seek treatment for the virus that is spread via close contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, including the dead.

- Sophia Gamboa

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/28/world/africa/ebola-congo.html?searchResultPosition=2