SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has caused 177 suspected deaths out of about 750 cases, according to the World Health Organization. Health officials warn the risk of rapid spreading is now high, and as of this morning, there are now five cases in Uganda. The strain is rare. There is no approved vaccine or treatment. The outbreak is in eastern Congo, where multiple armed groups and national armies operate, and that makes containment of the disease extremely difficult. Reporter Emmet Livingstone is in Kinshasa. Emmet, thanks so much for being with us.
EMMET LIVINGSTONE: Thank you for having me on.
SIMON: What's the situation like at the moment in Congo?
LIVINGSTONE: Well, Ebola appears to have been circulating widely here for a while and circulating without being noticed. The first known case was of a nurse who developed symptoms on April 24 in the provincial capital of Ituri province in the east. Now, because she developed symptoms on April 24, that means that the disease was spreading for at least several weeks, and, likely, several months beforehand. She unfortunately died afterwards, and she was buried in a gold mining town called Mongbwalu, which is about 50 miles away from the provincial capital.
And Congo's health ministry has noted that there was a spate of deaths in Mongbwalu in April, which some locals thought had been caused by witchcraft. It was only last week, by which point dozens of people had already died, that an Ebola outbreak was declared. And since then, confirmed cases have popped up in other provinces of Congo, including North Kivu and South Kivu and even, as you noted, in the neighboring country of Uganda. So it's already spread quite far.
SIMON: Tell us, please, about the town that seems to be at the epicenter of the outbreak.
LIVINGSTONE: Sure. So maybe, just first, generally a bit about Ituri province because this is one of the most cut off and violent provinces of Congo. There are lots of active armed groups, including some of the country's most brutal, like the CODECO and the ADF, which is linked to the Islamic State. And the epicenter of the current outbreak is in Ituri, and specifically in a town called Mongbwalu, which was, until very recently, considered almost a no-go zone. It's gotten a little bit better now because the Congolese army has been there for a little while. As I said, it's a gold mining town. It's in a remote area, and it's got all the problems of poor mining towns in Congo. People have very little money. They live in unsanitary conditions, and food is really expensive. It's also hard to access, so the whole area generally is considered pretty insecure.
SIMON: What are some of the difficulties that healthcare workers are facing as they try to get to the region?
LIVINGSTONE: So one of the biggest difficulties is distrust in the local community. People aren't used to outsiders coming in. Last night, a tent in an Ebola treatment center was burnt down. Because it's so remote, tracking cases is very difficult. It's difficult to persuade patients to isolate. And then there's a problem of testing. Samples have to be transported to the capital, Kinshasa, which is over a thousand miles away. All of this is compounded by U.S. aid cuts, which have definitely had an impact, according to Congo's health minister, Roger Kamba.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
LIVINGSTONE: So the health minister said, essentially, that the virus knows no borders. It knows no race or tribe. Borders do exist for people on the ground, though, and this is going to be one of the major problems. A large portion of where the outbreak is occurring is happening in an area that's governed by a rival administration, run by rebels from the M23 group. The main airport in eastern Congo is Goma, which is closed because it's in a city run by the rebels. Regional borders are also now starting to either close or become more restricted. Just the other day, I was very lucky to get one of the very last flights from Uganda into Congo. And this is becoming a major issue, not just for Congo, but for all countries in the region.
SIMON: Reporter Emmet Livingstone in Kinshasa. Thank you so much.
LIVINGSTONE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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