In the eastern Congolese town of Rwampara, silence hung heavy over the general hospital as healthcare workers in full protective suits carried bodies into disinfected coffins. The cries of grieving families echoed across the courtyard, where another chapter of Congo\u2019s latest Ebola outbreak unfolded in devastating fashion.<\/p>\n
Among the mourners was Botwine Swanze, who lost her son after a sudden and terrifying illness.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me his heart hurt, and I thought it was his stomach,\u201d she said. \u201cThen he started crying because of the pain in his stomach. After that, he started vomiting. Then he started bleeding and vomiting a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearby, Alicama Bitunda sat facing a line of coffins, mourning both her niece\u2019s child and, shortly afterward, her niece herself. What first appeared to be stress and malaria-like symptoms rapidly spiraled into something far deadlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe began vomiting and had diarrhea,\u201d Bitunda said. \u201cHer throat became hot, and then her stomach swelled, and that\u2019s how she died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outbreak raises international alarm<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, warning about the \u201cscale and speed\u201d of the virus\u2019s spread.<\/p>\n
The epidemic is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which circulated undetected for weeks after authorities initially tested for another, more common strain and received negative results.<\/p>\n
According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, 51 confirmed cases have been recorded in Congo\u2019s Ituri and North Kivu provinces, along with two cases in neighboring Uganda. <\/p>\n
Health officials also report 139 suspected deaths and nearly 600 suspected infections, though the true scale is feared to be much larger.<\/p>\n
This marks the Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s 17th Ebola outbreak, but officials say the unusual virus strain presents new challenges despite the country\u2019s extensive experience battling previous epidemics.<\/p>\n
Hospitals struggle to contain the virus<\/p>\n
At Rwampara General Hospital, preparations are underway to establish a dedicated Ebola treatment center inside a large tent erected in the hospital courtyard. <\/p>\n
Patients will eventually be isolated there to prevent further spread within healthcare facilities.<\/p>\n
But medical teams warn the outbreak remains far from contained.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the situation, as you can see, on the ground here where ALIMA is, the situation is worrying because this is getting widespread,\u201d said Hama Amado, field coordinator for ALIMA, the Alliance for International Medical Action. \u201cThis is spreading in many areas. So everyone must mobilize.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Muhito, chief medical officer of the Rwampara health zone, said health workers are still actively searching for infected people in communities and medical institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt present, the situation is not yet under control,\u201d Muhito said. \u201cThere are still a lot of detections.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the eastern Congolese town of Rwampara, silence hung heavy over the general hospital as healthcare workers in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-453149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}