Ebola victims in Congo turn to shrines, not hospitals

Ebola victims – As Ebola—now in its seventeenth outbreak since 1976 in the Congo Basin—spreads through close contact with bodily fluids, some victims in the region are choosing traditional healers and faith leaders over hospitals, complicating efforts to contain the Bundibugy

In Bunia, a town in Congo’s Ituri province, Ebola’s arrival doesn’t always trigger a straight line to the nearest hospital. Some people go. Others head for a shrine.

For many, the bleeding hemorrhagic fever is not just illness—it’s spiritual trouble. So prayers. herbs. and the counsel of traditional healers become the first stop. even as health workers warn that Ebola spreads through close contact with the bodily fluids of sick or deceased patients. The stakes are high in this outbreak. which is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo virus and has killed at least 181 people so far.

Congo is now facing its seventeenth Ebola outbreak since 1976, when the virus was first identified in the rich Congo Basin ecosystem. Five decades later, the disease still mystifies many of the sick and pulls religious leaders into emergency response—at times, too late.

The current outbreak has included health workers who lacked protective gear, and pastors and worshippers who gathered while Ebola was spreading, according to humanitarian workers and others who spoke to The Associated Press.

On the ground in Bunia, aid worker Onesphore Bangenza, of Mercy Corps, described what that mismatch looks like as the virus moves faster than trust can rebuild.

“Some people still describe Ebola as something mysterious. spiritual. or brought by outsiders. rather than a disease that needs medical care. ” he said from Bunia. “When people do not trust the health system. they often go first to traditional healers. faith leaders. or people they already know. The danger is that many only reach the hospital when they are already very sick.”.

In Bunia, misinformation has added another layer to the response struggle. One rumor suggests that Ebola is spread by malicious people who drop magical charms tied to dollar bills down pit latrines.

The virus in question is particularly difficult to fight. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola with no approved medicines or vaccines. It is unfolding in a remote area of Congo that is also dealing with armed violence by rebel groups and displacement.

The outbreak was confirmed on May 15. Some experts believe infections may have been occurring in February, but health officials initially tested for a different kind of virus that causes Ebola disease.

The World Health Organization quickly declared the event a public health emergency of international concern. The U.S. government has imposed a temporary ban on the entry of people without U.S. passports who have recently visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan.

As humanitarian workers push for containment, they’re also urging religious leaders to help. The reasoning is blunt: when communities are seeking spiritual answers, faith communities can either become barriers or bridges.

A widely shared video in Ituri shows a catechist leader from the Ebola hotspot of Mongbwalu speaking about the mistake that nearly cost him his life. Deogratias Kasereka said he decided not to rush to the hospital and instead went to the fields. His children then compelled him to seek medical treatment.

His symptoms included muscle weakness and headaches, and he “felt very hot.” Ebola in later stages can bring internal and external bleeding.

Even in communities that regard faith as a shield, the illness can still rupture the routine people rely on. Vincent Isimbwa. an elder among Seventh-day Adventists in a remote Ugandan community that faced the first-ever outbreak of Bundibugyo in 2007. described why some victims keep their suffering close.

“They faced it so rough,” Isimbwa said. “The challenge with Ebola is that it is so bad that some people can believe that there are supernatural powers behind it.”

That 2007 outbreak killed at least 36 people and left the community scarred. Many residents there also remember that the Bundibugyo virus is named for their district—the mountainous homeland of roughly 200,000 people mostly living as farmers.

Two decades later, the same conflict between fear and treatment plays out again. In Bundibugyo, the Ugandan nurse whose blood sample confirmed the 2007 outbreak said his symptoms confused people in the early days. Some thought Samuel Kuule had food poisoning.

Kuule recalled that his symptoms—peeling skin, bloodshot eyes and severe headache—terrified him. He said he did not shake his Seventh-day Adventist faith the way others may have. He was nursed in a narrow hospital room by caregivers including his pregnant wife, who was never infected.

“For those who are weak in faith, they may (think) that they are being bewitched,” he said. “Maybe they can believe it.”

Others from the region described how, during the 2007 outbreak, fear pushed people away from medical care entirely. Locals said an early victim of the outbreak was carried down the mountains and into the shrine of a traditional healer.

An older man survived but lost three sons to Ebola. Speaking through his presumptive heir, Amon Balinda, the healer said he changed his practice after being told Ebola was spreading. Balinda said he switched from benediction and prayer to prescribing herbs.

“For us in African traditional societies. in most cases when you fall sick and you go to the hospitals and they give you some injections and there is no improvement. there and then you switch to your neighbor. or anybody. and say maybe he is the one bewitching you. ” he said. “Then you decide to go to the witch doctor.”.

Ebola outbreaks are believed to begin when the virus spills over from an infected animal—such as a fruit bat—into humans. Experts say those cross-species infections often happen when people handle and eat wild meat.

The WHO is urging early testing for Ebola and isolating contacts in the current outbreak. But officials face a familiar obstacle: communities with deep religious faith insist on burying the dead according to established custom. with the belief that refusing to do so may deprive the dead of an afterlife. Pastors who stake their authority on healing the sick are expected to perform. Traditional healers face similar hopes.

That tension drew a direct rebuke from Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in a recent televised speech. He said there was no need to touch the sick during Ebola. Museveni said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO chief, told him while visiting Uganda that many victims in Congo are religious people.

“The pastors, the pastors, the pastors,” Museveni said, squinting in apparent disappointment. “The people of God — they are the ones who touch patients. … God is not deaf. You can pray without touching.”

In the current outbreak. the path people take—hospital or shrine—can determine whether Ebola is treated early enough to limit spread. As the virus tests not just bodies but trust. the central problem is no longer only how to fight a rare form of Ebola. It’s how to reach people before the disease, and their fear of what it means, pushes them somewhere else.

Ebola Bundibugyo virus Congo Uganda Ituri Bunia Mercy Corps traditional healers hospitals World Health Organization Yoweri Museveni Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus