'Ebola has tortured us': Fear grips eastern DR Congo as deadly virus spreads

'Ebola has tortured us': Fear grips eastern DR Congo as deadly virus spreads6 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleEmery MakumenoBBC Africa, KinshasaAFP via Getty ImagesAt least 131 people have died during the Ebola outbreakFear has gripped Ebola-hit areas in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as the suspected number of deaths continues to rise, as officials say they are struggling to catch up to an outbreak that may have previously been spreading undetected."Ebola has tortured us," says a taxi rider in his late twenties in the gold-mining town of Rwampara."I am scared because people are dying very fast... We are really afraid."Following a visit to Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, over the weekend, Congolese Health Minister Dr Samuel Roger Kamba acknowledged health teams are playing catch-up with the virus, which may have been circulating earlier than first detected on 24 April. The presumed patient zero is a nurse who died in the provincial capital Bunia, but was buried in Mongwalu, also a gold-mining town. Most of the suspected cases and deaths have been reported there and in neighbouring Rwampara.Rwampara resident Fred Kiza told the BBC that "there is fear", which he calls "normal when there's a disease like this." "It would be good if they gave us masks to protect ourselves."WHO 'deeply concerned' about scale and speed of Ebola outbreakAs of Tuesday, there are 513 suspected cases and at least 136 deaths, officials say. One person has also died in neighbouring Uganda.Cases have also been identified in Butembo city and rebel-controlled Goma in North Kivu province, as well as in South Kivu province.Health officials say that several deaths occurred in the community without being reported to the authorities, meaning they could not be investigated at the time.According to the health ministry, formal community alerts were only registered from 8 May."At community lev...