AILSA CHANG, HOST:
As Ebola continues to spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo, so do the rumors about it. Some question whether Ebola is even real. Others question whether aid workers are there to help them or to exploit them. As NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel reports, distrust and bad information are complicating efforts to contain the virus.
GABRIELLE EMANUEL, BYLINE: Less than a week after the Ebola outbreak was declared a public health emergency, dozens of people attacked and burned an Ebola Treatment Center in the eastern part of the country. Amani Serubungo Bienfait (ph) is from the region, and he's an aid worker. He watched as the international community reacted with surprise, shock, concern. But the local reaction in his native DRC was very different.
AMANI SERUBUNGO BIENFAIT: They were not surprised. They were not surprised since some of them - they think Ebola is not real. They were - some of them were happy to see that it was burned.
EMANUEL: They were happy to see it was burned. He says, this is the result of conspiracy theories he's seen spreading rapidly on social media.
BIENFAIT: They consider everyone that came in the Ebola response is coming for money. So for them, it's a business.
EMANUEL: The thinking is that aid groups brought the virus or just concocted a story about the virus to get donations flowing and pad their own pockets. The fact that early symptoms of Ebola can be similar to malaria and typhoid has further perpetuated questions about whether Ebola is real. Bienfait says all this has hindered containment efforts as some locals refuse to take the precautions necessary to prevent the virus from spreading further.
Jean Kaseya is a Congolese doctor and head of the African Union's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. He says, it's only a minority of people who have fallen prey to the notion that Ebola is fake.
JEAN KASEYA: The majority knows that the disease is there.
EMANUEL: But even for that majority, he says, there's confusion. Kaseya has just returned from a trip to the heart of the outbreak.
KASEYA: This visit opened my eyes on the mistrust that exists currently between African people and Western countries.
EMANUEL: He says, he kept getting questions about why there's no treatment or vaccine available for the particular strain of Ebola circulating currently.
KASEYA: They believe that medicines and vaccines exist, but we don't want to give them.
EMANUEL: Kaseya says, people told him they believe those resources are being hoarded by wealthier nations as locals are left to die. In past Ebola outbreaks, similar poor information and mistrust took hold. And as before, Kaseya says, health authorities and international organizations are scrambling to get out the right information and build up trust. They're training local leaders and giving them motorbikes to travel throughout the region, talking to community members. He says, there are also radio programs, WhatsApp groups, and church meetings aimed at giving them the facts about the outbreak. Bienfait says, his community needs these efforts.
BIENFAIT: The community must be transformed into an active participant in the response.
EMANUEL: He's hoping this happens quickly because, he says, as people get tangled up in falsehoods, the virus is busy spreading. Gabrielle Emanuel, NPR News.
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