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   From: cblasey@paloaltou.edu   
      
   The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is facing its worst Ebola   
   outbreak in the country's recorded history, health officials   
   have said.   
      
   The announcement late on Friday came amid increasing warnings   
   that the situation could deteriorate because of attacks by armed   
   groups and community resistance in the affected areas in eastern   
   DRC.   
      
   Oly Ilunga Kalenga, the DRC's health minister, said a total of   
   319 confirmed and probable cases have been reported in North   
   Kivu and Ituri provinces since the outbreak was declared in   
   August.   
      
   The figure exceeds the 318 cases documented in 1976, when the   
   deadly Ebola virus was first identified in Yambuku, in the   
   Equateur province.   
      
   Kalenga said 198 deaths have been recorded so far in the current   
   outbreak, the country's 10th, including 165 confirmed cases,   
   with 35 probable deaths. Of the 284 confirmed cases, 97 have   
   survived.   
      
   "This epidemic remains dangerous and unpredictable, and we must   
   not let our guard down," Kalenga said in a statement.   
      
   "We must continue to pursue a very dynamic response that   
   requires permanent readjustments and real ownership at the   
   community level."   
      
   'World's most complex epidemic'   
   But the medical response has been complicated by regular attacks   
   by armed groups battling for control in the mineral-rich eastern   
   parts of the country.   
      
   Health officials have also reported cases of community   
   resistance.   
      
   "No other epidemic in the world has been as complex as the one   
   we are currently experiencing," said Kalenga.   
      
   According to the minister, the teams responding to the outbreak   
   are attacked on average three or four times a week, in an   
   unprecedented level of violence compared with the country's nine   
   previous outbreaks.   
      
   "Since their arrival in the region, the response teams have   
   faced threats, physical assaults, repeated destruction of their   
   equipment and kidnapping," said Kalenga.   
      
   "Two of our colleagues in the Rapid Response Medical Unit even   
   lost their lives in an attack," he added.   
      
   Still, officials say they have been able to vaccinate more than   
   27,000 high-risk contacts, of which at least half could have   
   developed Ebola, which is spread through bodily fluids such as   
   sweat, saliva and blood.   
      
   Separately, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the   
   World Health Organization (WHO) said this week that the main   
   challenges in the current epidemic are insecurity and community   
   mistrust.   
      
   "When there is an attack, the operation (vaccinations) actually   
   freezes. And when the operation stops, the virus gets an   
   advantage and it affects us in two ways," he told reporters in   
   the DRC's capital, Kinshasa, on Thursday   
      
   "One is catching up on the backload. And the other, the second   
   problem, is that more cases are generated because we can't   
   vaccinate them," he said.   
      
   The confirmation of new cases has accelerated in the last month   
   and an emergency committee of WHO experts said in October that   
   the outbreak was likely to worsen significantly unless the   
   response was stepped up.   
      
   https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/drc-ebola-outbreak-worst-   
   country-recorded-history-181110141022940.html   
      
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