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’s latest Ebola outbreak unfolded in devastating fashion.
Among the mourners was Botwine Swanze, who lost her son after a sudden and terrifying illness.
“He told me his heart hurt, and I thought it was his stomach,” she said. “Then he started crying because of the pain in his stomach. After that, he started vomiting. Then he started bleeding and vomiting a lot.”
Nearby, Alicama Bitunda sat facing a line of coffins, mourning both her niece’s child and, shortly afterward, her niece herself. What first appeared to be stress and malaria like symptoms rapidly spiraled into something far deadlier.
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, warning about the “scale and speed” of the virus’s spread.
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.