Ebola outbreak strains health system in eastern Congo

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0:26Today on State of the World, we go to the epicenter of the Congo's outbreak of Ebola.

0:40You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Monday, June 15th. I'm Christine Arismath. We're hearing the sounds now of the city at the center of the outbreak of Ebola. In the city of Bunia, in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, over 800 cases of Ebola have been confirmed and nearly 200 people have died. The outbreak is still spreading as response efforts are hampered by funding gaps and persistent disinformation. It's also been a difficult place for reporters to access during this health emergency.

1:23Emmett Livingstone and photographer Arsene Empiana are reporting for NPR from the epicenter where fear, scarce resources and a fragile health system are shaping the response. In Bunia, people no longer greet each other with a handshake. Although the streets are lively and most people are carrying on as before, there are moments of discordance. A jeep packed with health workers in full protective suits and goggles speeds down the road. And within hours of arriving, the scale of the crisis becomes impossible to ignore. Standing here on the roadside and I'm looking at the tiling in front of a shop which is covered in greenish liquid.

2:04A disinfectant team has just turned up and taken a body away. According to the story that locals are telling, it was an ill patient who was on the back of a motorbike being transported to hospital who projectile vomited and then died on the spot. Fear is creeping into everyday life, and hospitals, for the most part, aren't considered safe. I'm here in a hospital called Clinique Universelle. The paint is peeling on the walls, but it's been completely shut down because just a few days ago a patient was discovered to have had Ebola. Now a full disinfection team has been deployed, and I'm standing in front of a team of three women who are preparing large basins of chlorine solution.

2:44This is then going to be taken by another team and going to be sprayed on every single surface of this hospital. We were inside for only a few minutes. Health workers recommended we leave, saying it wasn't worth the risk. Ebola can survive on surfaces for a short period of time. The hospital director is Dr. Passion Mazirine.

3:04He says doctors are not just afraid, they're very afraid. There isn't enough protective equipment. The Ebola response is still beginning, and so far there are only a handful of places where Ebola patients are being treated at the recommended standards. One of them is in Rampara, just outside of Bunya, where an Ebola treatment centre has been set up between a displacement camp and a field of maize. 18 patients with confirmed infections are receiving care here, in small cabins with see-through screens, which allows doctors to keep watch around the clock. Entering the isolation cabins requires full protection.

3:41I'm here in Rampara Ebola Treatment Centre, and I'm in an Ebola ward with doctors, going from isolated room to isolated room checking on Ebola patients. All of us are in full protective gear, which includes a bib, two layers of clothing, several layers of gloves, goggles, a mask. It's difficult to describe the level of discomfort wearing one of these suits. It's very hot in a turi, the sun is bright. It's very difficult to breathe inside the suit. And on top of that, the goggles fog up, so it's also difficult to see. These are the conditions under which doctors have to work.

4:24The Ebola patients themselves, some of them appear to be in a great deal of pain. We heard some people crying out. The doctors said that at a certain stage of the Ebola virus disease, the whole body aches and it's extremely painful. Emergency health workers say this patient is severely ill and needs a respirator. It's been ordered but hasn't yet arrived, an illustration of the huge logistical challenge involved. Dr Richard Cogent is a specialist in critical care and emerging infectious disease. Dr Cogent says what patients are going through is extremely difficult. The species of Ebola virus circulating has no vaccine.

5:04But with proper care, the disease is not necessarily a death sentence. And there are glimmers of hope. In Wampara, about a dozen patients are on their way to making a full recovery. The outbreak was caught late, which is causing much of the suffering here. Health workers are desperately trying to catch up. For NPR News, I'm Emmett Livingstone in Bunyan.

5:34That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening. Every episode of It's Been a Minute, NPR's What's Happening in Culture podcast starts by asking three questions. Who? How? Why now? If the culture's asking it, we're talking about it. At NPR, we stand for your right to be curious and indulge your cultural curiosity. Follow It's Been a Minute wherever you get your podcasts, and we'll break down the zeitgeisty topics that are filling your feed.