ISIS- armed militias are killing health care workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo

20 Congolese boys were tested for Ebola in Texas back in April as ISIS armed militias are killing health care workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo

 Photo World Bank/Vincent Tremeau Health Workers treat a 15-year-old who is suspected of being infected by Ebola, Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo. (2019) 
the Big Wobble,

12 June, 2019

The UN health agency yesterday identified a 5-year-old Congolese boy as thefirst confirmed case of Ebola in Uganda.

Despite numerous previous alerts in Uganda, this is the first instance in which the virus has been identified outside DRC during what has become the worst-ever outbreak in its history.

The five-year-old Congolese boy travelled across the Ugandan border on Sunday, through the Bwera Border post.

While seeking medical care at Kagando hospital, health workers identified Ebola as a possible cause of his illness.

WHO, and the Ugandan Ministry of Health has dispatched a Rapid Response Team to the town of Kasese, close to the DRC border, to identify other people who may be at risk, and ensure they are monitored and provided with care if they also become ill.

This comes after Breitbart reported the "Ebola Crisis Hits Texas-Mexico Border and 20 Congolese Migrants."

Breitbart reported that a public health official in Laredo, Texas, said 20 Congolese migrants were monitored for Ebola and other diseases in shelters in his city and across the Mexican border in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

Shortly after his announcement during a Laredo City Council meeting, the World Health Organization (WHO) considered declaring a “global emergency” in response to a massive outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“We have 8 Congolese right now in one of our shelters and a dozen in Nuevo Laredo,” Laredo Health Director Dr Hector Gonzalez told the Laredo City Councilman George Altget during a council meeting on April 4.

“For them, my concern was Ebola.”

He said that due to the time element, the Congolese migrants were not developing symptoms of Ebola. “But, we’re on alert to check that,” he said.

Almost 2,000 cases of Ebola have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the central African nation struggles with the second largest outbreak of the disease in history.

Health officials in the DRC said Sunday there were 1,994 reported cases of the disease, of which 1,900 have been confirmed as Ebola.
So far, 1,245 people are confirmed to have died, with another 94 deaths reported.

The outbreak, which began last August, has proved difficult to bring under control because of community mistrust and violent attacks on health care workers.

Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) said sporadic violence by ISIS armed militias, limited health care resources and difficult-to-access locations meant this outbreak was taking place in one of the "most challenging circumstances ever confronted by WHO."

Family members watch the deceased victim of the Ebola virus being buried on May 16, 2019, in Butembo.

The city of Butembo is at the epicentre of the Ebola crisis in DR Congo. WHO epidemiologist Dr Richard Mouzoko was killed by armed men in April while working in Butembo, in North Kivu, a province grappling with a long-term conflict and dozens of armed groups including ISIS.

Cases are increasing because of violent acts that set us back each time." The attack took place during a coordination meeting at the hospital where Mouzoko was working.

Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) staff have also been attacked, prompting the group to suspend work in some Ebola-hit areas. The DR Congo outbreak has affected the northeastern provinces of North Kivu and neighbouring Ituri.

The two provinces are among the most populous in the country and border Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.

Unlike the 2014 outbreak in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people, there are now vaccines and experimental treatments for Ebola.