What it’s like to be a healthcare worker at the center of an Ebola outbreak

0:00Recently, cybersecurity researchers discovered a striking computer virus seemingly related to the conflict between the U.S.S. Iran. over Iran's nuclear program. Everything about this thing screams special. A cunning cyber weapon meant to gaslight nuclear scientists? Listen to Planet Money on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Today on State of the World, what it's like to be a healthcare worker at the center of an Ebola outbreak.

0:34You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 300 people. That puts it on track to become one of the deadliest incidents of Ebola in recent history. Today, we're going to hear about the challenges faced by healthcare workers in the center of the outbreak, in Ituri province. Clinics there were struggling to function even before Ebola. Now the situation is dire. As reporter Emmett Livingstone tells us, for frontline health care workers, every patient carries a risk.

1:17Community nurse Moise Bulabantu is on his cell phone. He's in his tiny clinic serving about 40 ,000 people in the suburbs of Bunya, the capital of Aturi. An alert about a possible Ebola case has just come in.

1:40There are a lot of cases, he says. Of about 14 alerts we receive every day, about 10 meet the definition for Ebola.

1:53It frightens us, the community nurse says, because we don't have protective equipment. We're extremely afraid. Gulubantu, who is 38, looks pale and overworked. Not only does he lack protective equipment, but in his clinic, a low wooden building of several rooms, he has no way of isolating suspected cases. In Bunya, which has the biggest caseload, a large screen in the city's central plaza plays a health warning listing Ebola symptoms such as fever, headaches and vomiting. This message urges anyone with symptoms to seek medical treatment.

2:32Lots of people are sickening and dying at home unnoticed. The province is about the size of West Virginia and is very rural. It has few good roads, several ongoing armed conflicts, and about 900 ,000 people living in displacement camps. Anyone who shows the compassion and the care to take care of those who are sick in an Ebola outbreak end up being the next victim. That's what makes this disease so terrible, right? Right. So family members who take care of their loved ones, health care workers, clinics and hospitals. Shannon Hamilton is the team lead for evangelical aid organization Samaritan's Purse in Eturi.

3:09Aid organizations are trying to train health staff across Eturi. But the scale of what needs to be done is daunting. Ebola has been reported in over half of the province's health zones, many of them difficult to access. There's about 22 or 23 health zones now that are affected by the outbreak. Like a lot of those health zones aren't receiving a lot of that training and resources and support yet at this time. This challenge is more acute outside of Bunia, the province's only city. Take Niancunde Hospital, where an American doctor contracted Ebola in the early days of the epidemic. He was evacuated and later recovered.

3:44Health workers here still say they aren't receiving enough PPE.

3:51Desiree Douabou is the head doctor of the Niancunde Health Zone.

3:58It's not a rosy situation, says Douabou. It's so difficult. Eight hospital staff have been infected and one student doctor has died. The first recorded Ebola case in Niancunde, a pregnant woman, also infected other patients because she wasn't isolated. She died soon after being admitted. Conditions are better than they were several weeks ago because a new Ebola treatment centre is opening next door. But when we visited in mid-June, people suspected of having Ebola were still mixing with others. And one small restroom facility served all the patients, regardless of their illness.

4:38Douabou says that he and his colleagues summon the courage to help the sick because they must. But without enough PPE, the stress of getting infected is always there. In a turi, even the smallest gesture, opening a door, touching a chair, have become a calculated risk. As Ebola spreads through these under-resourced clinics, the line between caregiver and patient grows ever thinner. For NPR News, I'm Emmett Livingstone in Bunyan.

5:08That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.

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