18 Possible Ebola Patients Flee When Mob Burns Health Center

Residents of a town at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo attacked and burned part of a health center where people are being treated for the virus, and 18 people suspected of infection fled, a hospital director said Saturday. It was the second such attack in the region this week. Unidentified people arrived at the clinic in Mongbwalu on Friday night and set fire to a tent set up by the Doctors Without Borders humanitarian group for suspected and confirmed Ebola cases, Dr. Richard Lokudi, director of the Mongbwalu General Reference Hospital, told the AP. There is no available vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus.

"We strongly condemn this act, as it caused panic among the staff of the Mongbwalu Referral Hospital and also resulted in the escape of 18 suspected cases into the community," Lokudi said. On Thursday, a treatment center in the town of Rwampara was burned down after family members were prohibited from retrieving a man's body. The bodies of those who died of Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when people prepare them for burial and gather for funerals. The dangerous work of burying suspected victims is being managed wherever possible by authorities, which can be met by protests. A burial for Ebola patients in Rwampara took place on Saturday under tight security as tensions between health workers and the community ran high, said David Basima, who's overseeing burials for the Red Cross.

"Arriving at the (health care) structure, we experienced a lot of difficulties, including resistance from young people and the community. So we were forced to alert the authorities so that they could come to our aid, just for safety," said Basima. There are now 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Saturday that three of its volunteers had died in the outbreak in Mongbwalu. The agency said it believed the health care workers contracted the virus while carrying out dead body management activities on March 27 as part of a humanitarian mission unrelated to Ebola. That would significantly push back the timeline of the outbreak from the previous first confirmed death in late April.