Machete-wielding mob attack health workers responding to Ebola in Congo

Key Points:

• In eastern Congo's Tshopo province, an experienced nurse and community health worker was killed, and a colleague wounded, by youths armed with machetes who accused them of spreading Ebola, highlighting rising violence fueled by misinformation.
• The nurse, a well-known local figure involved in Ebola awareness efforts, was attacked on Friday while checking land, with assailants claiming health workers were contaminating water sources.
• The region is battling a fast-spreading Bundibugyo strain Ebola outbreak with nearly 10,000 confirmed cases and a fatality rate close to 49%, amid ongoing attacks on healthcare workers and facilities.
• Health workers in Bafwasende are now sheltering under police protection at the hospital due to security fears, following recent attacks including one where a community worker's home was set on fire.
• UN Ebola coordinator Julien Harneis condemned the killing as a significant loss to both the Ebola response and patient care, underscoring the critical challenge misinformation poses to outbreak control efforts.