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Chapter 1: What is the current Ebola outbreak situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?
A deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is causing growing concern among health authorities. More than 280 cases have now been confirmed and the outbreak is unfolding in a region already affected by conflict and displacement. Joining me now from Bunia in the DRC is CNN's Chief International Correspondent, Clarissa Ward. Clarissa, good morning to you. Hello, Clarissa.
Hello.
Hi, Clarissa. Hi, sorry. Good morning. That's OK.
The lines here are not fabulous.
OK, well, that's understandable. Clarissa, how serious is the situation on the ground in Bunia at the moment?
Well, I would say, Dave, there has definitely been a big surge in the amount of aid and resources coming in, the infrastructure being built up to help try to contain this vicious outbreak.
You're seeing various groups, Aleema, MSF, IMC, who have been furiously working around the clock to construct these temporary Ebola treatment centers, which are a crucial piece of the puzzle because they ensure that patients with Ebola are being isolated. The problem up until now was that a lot of these hospitals, especially in more rural areas,
had wards where there would be Ebola patients and non-Ebola patients in the next door bed to each other. And obviously that presents serious, serious problems. So definitely seeing some improvements, but it is going to be a very tough few months ahead.
Clarissa, you were allowed access to one of the hospital's red zones right at the centre of this outbreak. For our listeners, can you describe what you saw?
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Chapter 2: How are healthcare workers responding to the Ebola crisis on the ground?
And there is no vaccine for this particular strain of Ebola, which adds to the pressure.
There's no vaccine, there's no treatment. And I think it's important to underscore so your listeners get a sense of how this spreads so quickly for so long without being detected. This is a different strain of Ebola to the Zaire strain, which is the more common one that we saw in 2014, again in 2019. And so in the early days when people were showing these symptoms,
They would take the Ebola test, but because it was for the Zaire strain, the tests were coming back negative. And that cost authorities weeks and weeks in terms of trying to contain the outbreak.
And the terrifying thing is that the virus was on the loose, if I can use that phrase, for all that time. Nobody knew that it was there and it was spreading and it does spread quite rapidly.
It does, but I think it's also important to understand that with the correct protocols and practices, Ebola is not COVID. It's actually quite difficult to contract. It is not airborne. It can only be passed on through bodily fluids. And someone who, even if they have the virus incubating inside them, unless they are symptomatic, they are not contagious.
So it's only when someone has a fever and is feeling desperately sick that they become a threat to the community.
Yeah. And even I think when people are hospitalized, the family plays a role in caring for them, even in the hospital. Is that right?
They do. You see the families, they are camped outside these tents. They are preparing food. They are often buying the medicines and passing them on. And we saw some of these new treatment centers that are being constructed and they're quite brilliant. You know, they have like a toboggan system so the family can stand at a distance and put things down the chute to reach their loved ones.
They have these plexiglass screens or plexiglass walls in the rooms of each patient that allow the doctors to go right up, see the patient, observe them at close quarters without obviously breaking protocols around social distancing, which means that they don't have to put on that onerous PPE every single time they want to interact with a patient.
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Chapter 3: What challenges do healthcare workers face in the Ebola treatment centers?
This story is different in that it's a medical emergency. What is it like covering this story?
Well, first of all, I would say it's heartbreaking, but I actually thought I interviewed someone from Doctors Without Borders at this hospital in Mongboalu yesterday who has been doing this job for 25 years, going to all of the most dangerous places in the world.
And he said, you know, it's no different than going to a war zone where the bullets are flying, except that these bullets are invisible. You can't see the disease. You don't know where it is. And That is, you know, it raises a different set of concerns and challenges.
I think for our part, we've just been really focused on using hand sanitizer, washing our hands constantly, avoiding touching anybody, avoiding touching surfaces and really focusing on the work, which has been to try to humanize the victims of this vicious outbreak.
OK, Clarissa Ward, CNN chief international correspondent. Thank you so much for joining us this morning and stay safe.
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