An Ebola Crisis Intensifies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (in Photos)

Jack Herrera
August 25, 2018
A new outbreak of the deadly virus has killed dozens in one of the world’s poorest countries.
A group of Congolese look at a corpse of a suspected Ebola case being picked up, on the side of the road linking Beni to Mangina, on August 23rd, 2018, in Beni, in the North Kivu province.

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo intensified in the last week as health-care experts and country officials began to worry about their ability to contain the spread of the deadly virus.

Earlier this week, the DRC’s health ministry reported that 10 health-care workers had been infected, and that one of those workers was among the dozens confirmed dead. On Friday, the BBC put the confirmed death toll at 63. The outbreak that began on August 1st has now been confirmed to have infected at least 97.

On Friday, leaders of the World Health Organization expressed grave concern as the virus spread to areas of the country besieged by an armed militia group. As the BBC reports, WHO officials are concerned that the Allied Democratic Forces (a Ugandan Islamist militia with a history of attacking foreigners) could threaten the safety of health-care workers in the eastern town of Oicha.

This is the 10th confirmed outbreak of Ebola in the country since the highly contagious virus was first identified in the country’s north in 1976 and named for a nearby river.

Joseph Fair, a virologist working with the International Medical Corps in the DRC, told NPR that health-care workers fear a “West Africa-like situation” and are doing what they can to contain the outbreak. Between 2014 and 2016, Ebola killed over 11,000 in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

Health workers carry out the body of a patient with unconfirmed Ebola virus on August 22nd, 2018, in Mangina, near Beni, in the North Kivu province.
Health workers carry out the body of a patient with unconfirmed Ebola virus on August 22nd, 2018, in Mangina, near Beni, in the North Kivu province.

(Photo: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images)

A group of Congolese look at a corpse of a suspected Ebola case being picked up, on the side of the road linking Beni to Mangina, on August 23rd, 2018, in Beni, in the North Kivu province.
A group of Congolese look at a corpse of a suspected Ebola case being picked up, on the side of the road linking Beni to Mangina, on August 23rd, 2018, in Beni, in the North Kivu province.

(Photo: John Wessel/AFP/Getty Images)

People carry a cross for a grave on August 23rd, 2018, in Mangina, North Kivu province, DRC.
People carry a cross for a grave on August 23rd, 2018, in Mangina, North Kivu province, DRC.

(Photo: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images)

A military truck of the United Nations Organization and Stabilization Mission in the DRC patrols on the road linking Beni to Mangina on August 23rd, 2018, in Beni, in the North Kivu province.
A military truck of the United Nations Organization and Stabilization Mission in the DRC patrols on the road linking Beni to Mangina on August 23rd, 2018, in Beni, in the North Kivu province.

(Photo: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images)

Health workers burn medical waste generated during care of patients with the Ebola virus, on August 21st, 2018, in Mangina, near Beni, in the North Kivu province.
Health workers burn medical waste generated during care of patients with the Ebola virus, on August 21st, 2018, in Mangina, near Beni, in the North Kivu province.

(Photo: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images)

Health workers burn mattresses used by patients with the Ebola virus, on August 21st, 2018, in Mangina, near Beni, in the North Kivu province.
Health workers burn mattresses used by patients with the Ebola virus, on August 21st, 2018, in Mangina, near Beni, in the North Kivu province.

(Photo: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images)

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