KINSHASA, Oct 26 (Reuters) – Youths killed a longtime nurse treating Ebola patients in eastern Congo and other health workers were sheltering under police guard, health officials said on Monday, in the latest in a series of attacks that have been fuelled by misinformation.
The nurse worked at the general hospital in the town of Bafwasende in Tshopo province, where he sought to help residents understand and protect themselves from Ebola. He was attacked and killed on Friday.
“We are shocked at how the population turned against this nurse. It is impossible to believe that he was mistaken for a stranger,” a local health official told Reuters.
A colleague survived the attack and was recovering in hospital, the official said. Other health workers were sheltering at the general hospital under police guard, too afraid to go home, while the army also briefly deployed to the area, he said.
“None of the nurses have slept at their homes because they fear for their security,” the official added.
Tshopo is among eight provinces in Congo that are battling a fast-spreading outbreak of the Bundibugyo species of the Ebola virus. Congo’s public health institute on Friday reported 9,964 total confirmed cases with around a 48.6% fatality rate since the outbreak was declared in May
Attacks on health workers have targeted hospitals, vehicles and staff involved in the Ebola response, underscoring the challenge of building trust among the population.
The local health official said that youths in the area had previously attacked another colleague, setting his house on fire, without providing a date for that incident.
Reuters has previously reported how the rapid spread of health misinformation posed a threat to health workers in eastern Congo even before Ebola began to spread, with multiple health workers killed in Tshopo after they were accused of spreading an imaginary disease that caused male genitals to atrophy.
“The killing of a nurse yesterday in Bafwasende is a loss to the Ebola response and an even greater loss to patients,” Julien Harneis, the senior United Nations Ebola coordinator, said in a post on X on Sunday.
(Reporting by Congo newsroom; Writing by Jessica Donati; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet, Aidan Lewis)
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