Angry youths with machetes attack Ebola health responders in Congo

KINSHASA - Angry youths armed with machetes attacked two community health workers raising awareness about the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, killing one and wounding the other, according to officials and a memo seen by Reuters on Monday, in the latest in a series of attacks fueled by misinformation.

The worker who was killed was an experienced nurse who had worked at the general hospital in the town of Bafwasende in Tshopo province, and was recently tasked with helping to raise awareness about the deadly virus in the local community, where he was a well-known figure, a local official and the memo said.

"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.

The attack took place on Friday afternoon, when the nurse and a colleague, a teacher also working on community outreach, stopped to check on a lot of land. A group of people building a home next door began to accuse them of spreading the disease by contaminating water.

"Here are the people that are spreading the Ebola virus through people's toilets and rivers!" they shouted, according to the memo shared by a health official.

The angry group was joined by youths wielding machetes and batons, who attacked the pair. The nurse died on the spot before the hospital's emergency services could reach them, the memo said, while the teacher survived.

MISINFORMATION FUELING ATTACK

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 official said health workers in Bafwasende, where the latest attack took place, are sheltering at the general hospital under police guard, too afraid to go home, while the army also briefly deployed to the area.

"None of the nurses have slept at their homes because they fear for their security," the official added.

Only days earlier, an angry mob attacked another community worker raising awareness about Ebola, and set his house on fire, the memo said.

Reuters previously reported on how the rapid spread of health misinformation posed a threat to healthcare 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.

- Congo newsroom and Jessica Donati; Writing by Jessica Donati; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet, Aidan Lewis and Bill Berkrot)