Fighting deadly Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo

“We are at one of the four Ebola treatment centers in Bunia. A 48-year-old woman, a mother of five, came here feeling unwell. Doctors are questioning her and evaluating her before taking her back for Ebola tests.'' The woman is one of the first patients in this new treatment center, which was built from scratch in less than 24 hours. When they took her to the isolation ward, she had a seizure. Tense moments continue for some time, and doctors wait for her condition to stabilize before she is taken for tests. Doctors won't know whether she tests positive until several hours later. Still, it's an improvement from just two weeks ago, when testing was concentrated 1,000 miles away in Kinshasa and critical diagnoses were delayed by days. “Is this a laboratory?'' “This is a laboratory.'' We were the first reporters to witness laboratory workers here in Bunia conducting tests for the rare Ebola strain that fueled the outbreak. “We've been very surprised by the speed at which this has spread. I would say we have a huge amount of samples. We're quickly overwhelmed with the work we're doing here. So last week we were able to run 36 samples per day. And now we're able to run 372 samples per day.” “Samples from suspected Ebola patients have just arrived at our laboratory. Currently, test results are taking approximately eight to 12 hours, but we are working to reduce that to two hours.” Reducing the time spent transporting samples is one key to slowing the spread of infection. The clinic is undergoing the painstaking process of disinfecting the entire facility after two healthcare workers died from Ebola. New structures are also being built to isolate and triage suspected Ebola patients and protect other patients. But beyond Ebola, medical staff here are also caring for victims of a broader war that doesn't stop just because a deadly virus is spreading. Inside, we met a wounded Congolese soldier who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal. After years of fighting, Ebola has only made an already dire situation worse, he says.