Ebola Outbreak in Eastern Congo Draws Attacks on Health Workers

The strain is the rare Bundibugyo type, which has no vaccine or approved treatment. Aid workers face simultaneous threats from the virus and from local residents who have thrown stones and shouted insults at outreach teams. A Red Cross volunteer in Bunia said some residents accept the warnings while others do not.

Three health facilities were attacked in the past week. On Sunday, young men stormed a hospital treating Ebola patients, forcing staff to evacuate under gunfire. On Saturday, residents set fire to a Doctors Without Borders tent in Mongbwalu, and more than a dozen suspected patients fled.

On Thursday, a center in Rwampara was burned after relatives were blocked from retrieving a body. The virus spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids of sick or deceased patients. Traditional burial practices that involve handling bodies have increased transmission risk and fueled anger when responders enforce prevention measures.

Residents in Bunia have expressed suspicion that aid groups are profiting from the crisis or that the disease itself is fabricated. One 56-year-old man told outreach teams to stop bothering residents and called Ebola a foreign invention. A 70-year-old resident said the current outbreak appears larger and deadlier than previous episodes, noting that even hospital staff have died.

Early laboratory tests were conducted for a more common Ebola strain, delaying recognition of the Bundibugyo type. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies reported that three volunteers in Mongbwalu died after handling bodies on March 27 in work unrelated to Ebola.

Confirmation would move the outbreak start date earlier than the first confirmed death recorded in late April.

Travel between outbreak sites requires crossing territory controlled by armed groups. Clinics often rely on generators, and testing capacity for the Bundibugyo strain remains limited. An airport used as a humanitarian hub has been held by rebels for more than a year.

The World Health Organization director general said responders are playing catch-up with a fast-moving epidemic. Both the WHO and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe actual case numbers exceed those reported so far. Community engagement remains the main strategy cited by aid groups.

One country director for Action Aid said sustained local involvement is the only viable path forward, though methods to achieve it quickly are still unclear.