‘Every health facility said they were full’: alarm over rapid spread of Ebola in DRC | Ebola
Warnings from aid groups and health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo were harsh, and calls for coordinated international action were fervent.
As the country reels from the return of the Ebola virus, concerns are growing that its fragile health system will struggle to cope with an outbreak that experts say has swelled far beyond the number of confirmed cases.
“The speed at which this Ebola outbreak is spreading is extremely alarming,” said Rose Tchwenko, country director for the Democratic Republic of Congo for NGO Mercy Corps. “The risk of wider spread is real and further regional and global support is urgently needed.”
Hama Amado, field coordinator of the Alima aid group in the city of Bunia, said that the virus is gaining momentum and spreading to many regions. “Everybody has to take action,” he told The Associated Press on Thursday. “We are still far from saying the situation is under control.”
It has been a week since the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported its 17th outbreak of Ebola, a viral disease that spreads through body fluids or contaminated materials and causes organ damage, blood vessel disruption, and sometimes severe internal and external bleeding, with a fatality rate of between 25% and 90%.
Nearly 750 suspected cases and 177 suspicious deaths have been recorded since the first known victim died on April 24 in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo. During a funeral in the nearby town of Mongbwalu, mourners touched it, contributing to the spread of the virus.
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities were quickly overwhelmed. Trish Newport, Médecins Sans Frontières emergency program manager, said a team identified suspected cases at Salama hospital in Bunia over the weekend but could not find a suitable isolation ward in the area. “Every health facility they called said, ‘We are full of suspicious cases. We don’t have space,'” he said on social media. “This gives you a vision of how crazy it is right now.”
S.Many factors hinder the aid response, including the strain of the virus for which there is no approved treatment or vaccine; the remote and conflict-scarred location of the epidemic; and local funeral customs that conflict with strict disease control practices. All of this is happening against the backdrop of huge deficits in aid budgets, largely caused by the Trump administration’s foreign aid cuts.
According to a study by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) this year, more than half of the health facilities examined in North and South Kivu provinces, where cases were also reported, were damaged or destroyed, and almost half reported significant staff turnover since January 2025 due to conflict and insecurity.
Two events this week revealed some of the factors aggravating the situation. On Tuesday, at least 17 people were killed in an attack by the Allied Democratic Forces, a militant group operating in eastern DRC and parts of Uganda, on several villages near the town of Mambasa in Ituri. “We are facing a double war: one from weapons, the other from the disease epidemic,” said Zawadi Jeanne, a town woman who lost her brother and uncle in an ADF attack last month.
On Thursday, a mob set fire to a treatment center in Rwampara near Bunia after authorities refused to give them the body of the victim they wanted to bury.
Burial of bodies, which can be highly contagious, is carried out by authorities in an effort to control the disease, but some families prefer traditional funeral rites that involve washing and handling the body. In previous epidemics, this has proven to be a key factor in the spread of the disease.
Traditional chief Batakura Zamundu Mugeni, who was at the scene in Rwampara, told Agence France-Presse that authorities were working with health authorities to find patients who may have escaped, as well as contact cases. He blamed “young people who cannot grasp the reality of the disease” for the unrest.
On Friday, the state banned funerals and said burials should only be performed by specialized teams. Transport of bodies by non-medical means was also banned and public gatherings were limited to a maximum of 50 people.
Instructions to avoid physical contact are generally undermined by a strong culture of expressing love through touch. “We live in a society where shaking hands is on the menu every day,” said Jackson Lubula, who lives in Bunia. “Anything is possible with this disease. The slightest mistake can be costly. That’s why I decided to wash my hands with soap after every greeting.”
Reports from affected areas reinforce the impression that the virus is spreading unnoticed. Rapid needs assessment Almost a third of schools in Bunia, Nizi and Nyankunde districts were found by ActionAid to have recorded at least one suspected Ebola case or close contact.
On Saturday, the Red Cross said three volunteers who died this month were believed to have contracted the virus as long ago as March 27 while handling corpses as part of an unrelated humanitarian mission.
People in Rwampara said the disease appeared suddenly and early symptoms were mistaken for diseases such as malaria. Botwine Swanze, whose son died, told an Associated Press reporter: “He told me his heart hurt. Then he started crying from the pain. Then he started bleeding profusely and vomiting.”
D.Núria Carrera Graño, a clinician who served at the ICRC in two previous Ebola outbreaks, described the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a humanitarian, political and security crisis resulting from a cascade of unfortunate events.
He said responders should learn from past epidemics about the importance of international cooperation and coordination. “We have no time to waste,” he said.
To control the outbreak, the Congolese government is working with medics who have experience fighting the disease.
Dr. Alima’s intensive care clinician who served in many Ebola outbreaks. Richard Kojan said there were many similarities between them, including late discovery, insufficient resources for intervention and the lack of a vaccine to begin with.
“The epidemic is out of control,” he said this week from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Since there is no vaccine and no approved treatment for the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, health officials are working to optimize the standard of intensive care for patients and put in place surveillance and contact tracing for suspected cases, Kojan said.
“If they are admitted to the treatment center early, the viral load in the samples will be low and they will be more likely to survive later with optimized care,” he said.
The Alima team is also deploying a portable treatment unit called Cube, a transparent plastic structure that allows interaction between patients, their relatives, and caregivers without the need to wear personal protective equipment. Kojan developed the concept after his experience with Ebola in the 2014-16 outbreak.
As the virus spreads, more and more people in Bunia are discovering that their friends and relatives have become victims, increasing their anxiety.
“Just the thought of the name ‘Ebola’ scares me,” said Jeanne, a niece at a health facility in Rwampara.
But he remains optimistic. “It is Allah who knows what lies ahead,” he said. “I keep telling myself that the disease will spread, but it won’t get to an alarming level. We can hope for the best.”
