Spreading as quickly as Ebola itself, doubt and rumour turn deadly in the DRC

On 27 March, Viviane Ajiko, a 35-year-old volunteer burial worker, was called to the home of a young man who had recently died in Mongbwalu, a town in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

- Report by Seros Muyisa in Bunia, Ituri province, and Olivia Acland

Blood seeped from the body’s mouth and his parents were afraid to touch him. With six other volunteers, Ajiko washed the body, laid it in a coffin and returned it to the family for burial.

A week later, Ajiko developed a fever. Assuming it was malaria or typhoid, she checked into a local clinic for routine treatment. She never came out. Two weeks after that, her husband also died, leaving behind the couple’s three young children.

Doctors now believe the deaths were caused by a rare strain of Ebola, yet the virus was not officially identified in the region until 15 May. Samples had to be flown more than 1,000 miles to a laboratory in Kinshasa, the country’s capital, for testing. The outbreak was missed after screenings for the more common Zaire variant came back negative. By the time the diagnosis was confirmed, the virus – the rarer Bundibugyo strain – had spread.

The virus is now tearing through the DRC’s conflict-ridden eastern provinces. At least 238 people have died and an estimated 1,077 are thought to have been infected. Nine cases have been reported in Uganda, which has attempted to seal its long, porous border with the DRC.