Two weeks after the Kabangba camp for displaced persons in the war-torn Nyiznyi area of the Democratic Republic of Congo became the first camp in the region to record two Ebola deaths, healthcare workers are racing to trace the contacts of the two deceased women in order to break chains of transmission.
However, Jean-Claude Lonzama, the area's chief physician, said that angry local residents, who deny that the two women died of Ebola, forced staff from the regional health ministry, the World Health Organization, and other relief agencies to leave. Nyiznyi is a densely populated mining area. Lonzama told Reuters: "To this day, we have not been able to follow up on the contacts of these two cases."
This predicament has left health authorities at a loss as they attempt to ward off a wave of Ebola cases in the camp, which houses around 30,000 people, most of whom fled ethnic violence in surrounding areas. Lonzama said: "We have 22 sites for displaced persons in the Nyiznyi health zone, which has a population of approximately 81,124 people.
This is also a major concern for us, as no preventive measures have been taken at these sites, apart from some awareness messages." Since the outbreak was declared a month ago, angry local residents have attacked several treatment centres — either because they have been unable to bury their loved ones due to precautions taken to prevent the spread of the virus, or because they believe Ebola is merely a hoax.
On a related front, the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo announced on the evening of the day before yesterday that the number of confirmed Ebola cases in the country had risen to 710, with 139 deaths recorded. The World Health Organization had declared on 17 May that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda constituted an emergency and posed a risk to other countries.
The World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention launched, on 5 June, a preparedness and response plan for the Bundibugyo virus disease (an Ebola strain) outbreak, valued at 518 million dollars.