Congo Ebola Outbreak Reaches Major City

A devastating Ebola outbreak that has been ravaging war-torn regions of central Africa has spread to Butembo, a major city in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and is now being recognized as the second worst recorded outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever in history. Aid agencies have struggled to manage the epidemic in the face of a brutal insurgency, with rebel attacks making tracking the virus and reaching victims impossible at times. About 41,000 people, mainly health workers and contacts of Ebola victims, have received an experimental vaccine, but there is not enough stock for mass vaccination of a major city like Butembo.