Health employees ‘concern dying’ as untreatable Ebola pressure claims over 200 lives in a month
DR Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak, fuelled by the hard-to-treat Bundibugyo strain with no approved vaccine, has surged to more than 900 suspected cases and 220 deaths
Uganda Red Cross Society workers evacuate the body of a suspected Ebola victim in Kampala on May 26(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
An aggressive, Ebola outbreak that has sparked widespread fear around the world has already taken the lives of several medical staff. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is experiencing its 17th Ebola outbreak since the virus was first discovered in 1976.
Unlike previous outbreaks, this one is driven by the Bundibugyo virus strain, which has proven particularly challenging because there is no approved vaccine or specific cure for the Bundibugyo strain. Doctors can only offer basic supportive care like oxygen therapy.
As a result, the virus spreads rapidly through bodily fluids, including contact with deceased victims. The outbreak has surged to over 900 suspected cases and 220 deaths so far.
The outbreak, which was officially declared by health authorities on May 15 and has claimed the lives of several healthcare workers. Amongst medical staff, Dr Vladimir Maduali, 30, a young, passionate doctor and the primary breadwinner for his family.
He had graduated only three years prior and died of Ebola after spending two days on oxygen therapy. In the early hours of Sunday morning (May 24), he was the fourth member of staff at his hospital to be killed by the disease, the Guardian reported.
Dr Tibenderana Katho Blaise, a colleague of Maduali, also succumbed to the illness two days later at the Bunia Evangelical medical centre in Bunia, DRC. “[Maduali] was someone who was deeply committed to making a difference in the lives of communities,” his colleague Dr Richard Lokudu, medical director of Mongbwalu hospital, told the Guardian.
“He was devoted to his work.” Lokudu said that since the outbreak was confirmed earlier this month, five more of his staff are believed to have contracted the virus.
Three of them have died, he added, while testing has not yet kept pace with suspected infections or the reported death toll, according to the Guardian. Lokudu said: “We have already lost three nurses at our hospital.
“We assume they had been in contact with Ebola carriers; the test results may confirm or refute these assumptions. These nurses worked here with passion and, sadly, they are no longer with us.”
He said the circumstances facing frontline medics trying to contain the outbreak are “precarious and agonising”. He added: “We who are fighting Ebola work like soldiers.
“It may well be that others, myself included, will follow Vladimir tomorrow. We are fighting for the same cause: to save human lives from this Ebola epidemic.”
Josué Maduali, his younger brother, recalled: “Among the things he feared most was death. When he was admitted to hospital, he didn’t believe he could be suspected of having Ebola.
“His jaw dropped. When he tested positive for Ebola, he was psychologically devastated.”
Maduali’s brother further shared: “When he was taken to isolation at Mongbwalu hospital, he told me he had a better chance of surviving this dangerous disease.” Three Congolese Red Cross volunteers based at Mongbwalu hospital in Ituri have also died within an 11-day period, after reportedly catching Ebola while handling and transporting bodies, as per the Guardian.
The outbreak reportedly emerged in the Mongbwalu Health Zone in Ituri province, north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a high-traffic mining area where population movement is constant. Health officials say it spread quickly in the early days amid delays in diagnosis, a large funeral linked to an early victim and widespread confusion in communities about what was causing the sudden illness.
Investigators believe the outbreak began, as Ebola outbreaks typically do, with an animal-to-human “spillover” event. While the specific exposure is still being examined, public health bodies say the virus usually enters human populations when someone handles or eats infected wildlife such as fruit bats, primates or forest antelope, before passing from person to person through direct contact with bodily fluids.
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