More than 70 doctors infected with Ebola as DRC outbreak spreads rapidly | News about Ebola

Aid cuts and poor sanitation are fueling fears that Ebola is spreading through refugee camps.

Seventeen medics have died of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as the death toll from an epidemic already wracked by war, displacement and lack of income rises to over 200.

An official of the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the death toll on Friday and said that 75 health workers have been infected since the Congolese authorities announced the outbreak on May 15.

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“The outbreak is still dangerous” and “growing rapidly,” WHO emergency chief Marie Roseline Belizaire said.

“It’s a very high price that the system, health care, is paying, because we don’t have enough medical workers in the DRC,” he told reporters via video broadcast in eastern DRC.

Health officials believe Bundibugyo’s rare Ebola outbreak spread for months before the government declared an outbreak, leaving doctors, nurses and other health workers exposed before they knew the virus was present.

Even now, personal protective equipment is still in short supply, with some places struggling to secure gloves, masks and other essential items to reduce infection.

The DRC has the world’s lowest number of health workers and population, with about 11 health workers per 10,000 people, according to WHO data. Belizaire said China and Uganda are sending medical teams to help with the response.

He added that WHO is providing psychological support to doctors who are afraid to treat patients after seeing their colleagues get sick.

“When they explain to you how they live, how they’re affected … (it) can break your heart.”

The epidemic reached its peak

Congolese authorities said on Thursday that the epidemic has killed 232 people and infected 896 others in 31 health centers in the country.

African Union countries have pledged nearly $1bn to aid the emergency in eastern DRC and neighboring Uganda, which has confirmed 19 cases and two deaths.

Health officials warn that the epidemic has not yet reached its peak.

The problem is also raising concerns in refugee camps, where overcrowding, poor hygiene and a lack of testing could allow the virus to spread undetected.

At least 30 people have died since the beginning of May in Kigonze camp in Bunia in Ituri district, which is the epicenter of the outbreak. The camp officials explained that the number of people who died was unprecedented.

Officials were unable to confirm the cause of death because patients and family members refused to perform an autopsy until Thursday, according to a spokeswoman for the camp and aid agency Caritas.

But witnesses and aid sources told Reuters that the dead had symptoms related to Ebola, including headache, fever and vomiting.

“People have never died like this before,” camp spokeswoman Desire Grodya Bapi told Reuters.

There are more than 15,000 people in Kigonze. The rising death toll there has fueled fears that Ebola may spread among the more than 5 million people who have fled their homes in eastern DRC.

Aid workers say funding cuts have made the crisis even more dangerous. Donors, including the United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump, have reduced aid to water, sanitation, and hygiene, which are essential in the fight against diseases that spread through body fluids.

UN data shows spending on toilets and handwashing facilities in the DRC will more than halve between 2024 and 2025, falling to around $38m. The claim of $80m this year is only 21 percent.

The DRC has hundreds of refugee camps, some housing over 100,000 people. Ebola deaths have already been recorded in one camp in Ituri province, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the nearly 900 confirmed cases.