Ebola Fear Grows as Camp Deaths Surge in Eastern Congo

A displaced‑person camp near Bunia has seen more than 30 deaths since May, a number that local officials say is record‑breaking. The victims all showed classic Ebola signs such as fever, headache and vomiting, raising the alarm that the virus could be spreading quickly in a place already overrun by disease. Because many residents and families declined to let health workers examine the bodies, scientists have not yet confirmed the cause of death. Still, the pattern is hard to ignore: a sudden spike in fatalities in a camp that normally records only one or two per month is unusual and unsettling.The camp, home to over 15, 000 people living in cramped plastic tents, also faces serious sanitation problems. Toilets are few and often overflow; people sometimes have to empty them with bare hands, creating a perfect environment for infections that travel through bodily fluids. International aid has cut back on water, hygiene and sanitation projects in the region, especially after a major donor reduced its funding. In 2024, for instance, aid agencies built over 400 toilets and many hand‑washing stations, but the following year those projects were largely scaled down. With limited testing and poor sanitation, it is possible that Ebola or a similar disease could circulate unnoticed among the millions of displaced individuals in eastern Congo. The situation highlights how critical basic health infrastructure is for preventing outbreaks.