Residents Burn an Ebola Center as Fear and Anger Grow Over the Outbreak

Photo Credit: AP

CONGO – Fire was set to an ebola treatment center in a town at the heart of the outbreak in Eastern Congo on Thursday after people were stopped from retrieving the body of a local man.

The arson attack reflects the challenges of health workers trying to curb a rare ebola virus by using stringent measures that might clash with local customs, such as burial rites.

Burying suspected victims is being managed wherever possible by authorities because the bodies of those who die from ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when people prepare bodies for burial and gather for funerals.

That policy can be extremely unpopular with victims’ families and friends, who aren’t given the chance to bury their loved ones.