Virus out of control? Experts warn of Ebola chaos in Congo

Bunia – In the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ebola virus is raging seemingly unchecked: there is a lack of laboratories, protective materials and safe transport routes. Experts warn of chaos in combating the dangerous disease. According to the Congolese government, around 930 suspected cases and around 220 deaths have been registered so far. The German tropical doctor Gisela Schneider from Tübingen knows the region from her own experience. She reports massive problems.

Colleagues on site confirmed to her that samples from suspected cases would still have to be sent to the capital Kinshasa, around 1,700 kilometers away. In addition, there is no rapid test for the currently prevalent rare Ebola type (called Bundibugyo). Schneider: “People who have certain symptoms such as feeling severely ill, high fever, vomiting, diarrhea must be treated as if they had Ebola.” Until the diagnosis is established, patients have to be treated for several diseases at the same time and, above all, isolated, Schneider continued.

Has the virus been spreading unnoticed for weeks?

There is also neither a vaccine nor a special treatment for the rare Bundibugyo type. Experts therefore fear that The virus has been spreading unnoticed for weeks. To prevent this, so-called triage centers are currently being set up. Suspected cases should be separated from other patients as early as possible. According to Schneider, employees in protective clothing measure temperatures at the entrance to clinics and ask questions in order to send patients either to normal treatment or to an isolation area. But here too there is a lack of protective material. The tropical doctor: “And that’s why there are still a lot of infections at the moment, including among health workers.”

The situation is particularly bad in the refugee camps around the city of Bunia. According to the United Nations, nearly a million people have been displaced by violence in Ituri province alone. “Years of conflict and displacement have brought the health system to its knees, making containing this outbreak even more difficult,” said Heather Kerr of the aid group International Rescue Committee.

The dangerous transport of relief goods

Bunia Airport is largely shut down to prevent further spread of the virus Virus to prevent. Relief supplies therefore have to be transported by land – a dangerous journey through rebel areas. “The journey takes three days on the road,” says Josue Ibulungu, state director of Diakonie disaster relief. In the past, helpers avoided dangerous routes by traveling to Ituri via Rwanda and Uganda. That is now hardly possible: Rwanda has closed its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.