At least 30 people have died since the start of May in one camp for displaced civilians in northeastern Congo, a death rate that camp officials said was unprecedented, and, because of the symptoms, could indicate Ebola is spreading fast there.
It was not possible to confirm the causes of death because patients or their relatives in Kigonze camp in Bunia – the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo – had until Thursday refused testing the living or dead, a camp spokesperson and aid organisation Caritas said.
However, all had symptoms including headaches, fever and vomiting, which are associated with Ebola, a camp spokesperson, a bereaved father, three aid sources and a civil society leader told Reuters.
“People didn’t just die like this before,” camp spokesperson Desire Grodya Bapi told Reuters.
The deaths in Kigonze, which has more than 15,000 residents, raise fears that Ebola may be circulating undetected among eastern Congo’s over 5 million displaced people, with resistance to testing compounding the challenge posed by severely limited sanitation measures.
BODIES COVERED IN SHEETS
Camp President Dz’djo Ndrutsi Etienne said 10 people were buried this week alone. Grodya said the camp typically recorded between one and three deaths per month.
Justin Zanamuzi, director of Catholic aid organization Caritas, which helps Kigonze’s residents, said his team on Wednesday saw several bodies covered in sheets, including a pregnant woman and children.
Footage from Thursday shared by the civil society leader and verified by Reuters showed health teams in hazmat suits disinfecting more bodies and preparing tiny coffins next to a crucifix as mourners wailed.
“Our team tried to persuade people to accept doctors to inspect the bodies. They completely refused,” Zanamuzi said.
The outbreak in the country was first declared by Congolese officials on May 15, but the officials said the deaths had begun earlier in the month.
Grodya, the camp spokesperson, said health workers had now taken samples from five victims and were awaiting the results. Cholera also has Ebola-like symptoms and spreads quickly in poor communities, though it tends not to transmit person to person.