2026年5月22日 美国东部时间7:43 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/美联社
刚果布尼亚—— 一名目击者和一名高级警官表示，周四，刚果东部疫情中心城镇的民众因被阻止取回一名当地男子的遗体，纵火烧毁了一处埃博拉治疗中心。随着医护人员努力控制这场健康危机的压力不断加大，民众的恐惧和愤怒情绪日益高涨。
伦帕拉地区发生的纵火事件，反映了医护人员在遏制这种罕见埃博拉病毒时面临的挑战：他们采取的严格防疫措施可能与当地习俗发生冲突，例如葬礼仪式。这场疫情已经在该地区蔓延数周，这里不仅缺乏足够的医疗设施，还有许多民众为躲避武装冲突而流离失所。
埃博拉死者的遗体具有极强传染性，民众在筹备葬礼、聚集举行悼念仪式时可能会造成病毒进一步传播。无论在何处，当局都会负责处理埋葬疑似埃博拉受害者的高危工作，而这往往会遭到受害者家属和亲友的抗议。
一名通过电话向美联社报料的目击者称，伦帕拉的这家治疗中心是当地青年纵火烧毁的，这些年轻人因试图取回一名疑似死于埃博拉的朋友的遗体而情绪失控。
“警方介入试图平息局势，但遗憾的是未能成功，”当时在现场的当地学生亚历克西斯·布拉塔说道，“年轻人最终放火烧了治疗中心。情况就是这样。”
路透社记者拍到了治疗中心起火的画面：
2026年5月21日，在刚果民主共和国伊图里省布尼亚郊外的伦帕拉，刚果警察在一座正在燃烧的埃博拉治疗中心旁警戒，此时各援助机构正加紧努力控制新一轮埃博拉疫情。格拉德尔·穆伊萨·姆贝雷 / 路透社
一名美联社记者看到，民众闯入治疗中心，点燃了内部物品，还有至少一具存放在中心内的疑似埃博拉受害者遗体。救援人员乘车逃离了治疗中心。
伊图里省公共安全部门负责人、副高级专员让·克洛德·穆肯迪表示，年轻人不了解疑似埃博拉受害者的安葬流程。
“他的家人、朋友和其他年轻人想把他的遗体带回家举行葬礼，但当局在此次埃博拉疫情期间发布的指令非常明确，”穆肯迪说，“所有遗体都必须按照规定下葬。”
当时在该治疗中心开展工作的人道主义组织阿尔玛（ALIMA）现场协调员哈马·阿马杜随后表示，局势已经恢复平静，救援团队将继续在该中心开展工作。
这场突如其来的愤怒事件，凸显了刚果当局和一众援助机构在遏制疫情时面临的复杂局面。世界卫生组织已将此次疫情列为国际关注的突发公共卫生事件。
世界卫生组织总干事谭德塞博士周五在社交媒体上表示，“刚果目前已有近750例疑似病例和177例疑似死亡病例”，邻国乌干达报告了2例确诊病例和1例死亡病例。
但世卫组织表示，实际感染人数几乎肯定要多得多，并对病毒的传播速度表示担忧。
非洲疾病预防控制中心总干事让·卡塞亚表示：“我们仍处于加强调查、搜寻病例的阶段。随着监测工作愈发严格，我预计病例数量还会增加。”
世卫组织表示，疫情在全球范围内扩散的风险较低，但在区域内风险较高，疫情中心伊图里省与乌干达和南苏丹接壤。
专家表示，及早发现病毒是挽救生命的关键，但该地区本就薄弱的医疗基础设施和监测能力，因国际援助削减进一步受损。联合国数据显示，伊图里省境内流离失所者人数超过92万。
该地区的武装冲突进一步加剧了应对危机的难度。当地领导人表示，周二，与“伊斯兰国”有关联的武装分子在伊图里省的阿利马村发动袭击，造成至少17人死亡。
医护人员和救援组织表示，他们迫切需要更多物资和人员来应对疫情。此外，目前尚无针对此次疫情所涉本迪布焦埃博拉毒株的可用疫苗或药物。
一名专家本周表示，相关疫苗或药物至少还需要6至9个月才能面世。
“当务之急是迅速行动，与社区密切合作，未来几天至关重要，”刚果国际红十字会与红新月会联合会代表团负责人阿里尔·凯斯坦说道。
埃博拉病毒传染性极强，可通过接触呕吐物、血液、粪便或精液等体液在人际间传播。症状包括发烧、呕吐、腹泻、肌肉疼痛，有时还会出现内外出血。
今年4月底出现首例已知死亡病例后，病毒悄然传播了数周，因为刚果卫生当局当时正在检测该国更常见的另一种埃博拉病毒。据世卫组织称，卫生官员尚未找到“零号病人”。
世卫组织病毒性出血热专家阿娜伊斯·勒冈表示，从目前的疫情规模来看，“疫情可能在几个月前就已经开始”。
美国政府已对过去21天内到访过刚果、乌干达或南苏丹的人员实施旅行限制：禁止外国访客入境美国，要求美国公民和永久居民前往华盛顿杜勒斯国际机场接受筛查。
印度和非洲联盟周四表示，原定于下周在新德里举行的印非论坛峰会已推迟，原因是“非洲部分地区不断变化的卫生形势”。
周三，刚果国家足球队取消了在首都金沙萨举行的为期三天的世界杯备战训练营和计划中的球迷告别活动，原因是埃博拉疫情。
Ebola treatment center in Congo set on fire as fear and anger over disease’s spread grow
May 22, 2026 7:43 AM EDT / CBS/AP
Bunia, Congo— People set fire to an Ebola treatment center in a town at the heart of the outbreak in eastern Congo on Thursday after being stopped from retrieving the body of a local man, a witness and a senior police officer said, as fear and anger grow over a health crisis that doctors are struggling to contain it.
The arson attack in Rwampara reflects the challenges of health workers trying to curb a rare Ebola virus by using stringent measures that might clash with local customs, such as burial rites. The disease has been spreading for weeks in a region lacking in adequate health facilities and where many people are on the move to escape armed conflicts.
The bodies of those who die from Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when people prepare them for burial and gather for funerals. The dangerous work of burying suspected victims is being managed wherever possible by authorities, which can be met by protests from victims’ families and friends.
The center in Rwampara was burned by local youths who became angry while trying to retrieve the body of a friend who had apparently died of Ebola, according to a witness who spoke to The Associated Press by telephone.
“The police intervened to try to calm the situation, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful,” said Alexis Burata, a local student who said he was in the area. “The young people ended up setting fire to the center. That’s the situation.”
The Reuters news agency captured images of a treatment center burning:
Congolese police stand guard at a burning Ebola treatment center, as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak, in Rwampara, outside Bunia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, on May 21, 2026. Gradel Muyisa Mumbere / REUTERS
An AP journalist saw people break into the center and set fire to objects inside and also to what appeared to be the body of at least one suspected Ebola victim that was being stored there. Aid workers fled the treatment center in vehicles.
Deputy Senior Commissioner Jean Claude Mukendi, head of the public security department in Ituri Province, said the youths had not understood the protocols for burying a suspected Ebola victim.
“His family, friends, and other young people wanted to take his body home for a funeral even though the instructions from the authorities during this Ebola virus outbreak are clear,” Mukendi said. “All bodies must be buried according to the regulations.”
Hama Amadou, field coordinator for the humanitarian organization ALIMA, which had teams working at the center, said later that calm had been restored and that aid teams were continuing their work at the center.
The flash of anger underlined the complications faced by both Congolese authorities and an array of aid agencies trying to stem an outbreak that the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of international concern.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media Friday that “there are now almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths” in Congo and two confirmed cases and one death reported” in neighboring Uganda.
But the WHO has said the outbreak is almost certainly much larger and has also expressed concern over the speed of the spread.
“We are still in the phase where we are intensifying the investigation, searching for cases,” said Jean Kaseya, Director-General of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “I expect the number of cases to increase as surveillance becomes more and more rigorous.”
The risk of the outbreak spreading globally is low, the WHO has said, but high regionally with the Ituri Province at the center of the outbreak bordering Uganda and South Sudan.
Early detection of the virus is key in saving lives, but the region’s already weak health infrastructure and surveillance capacity has been further weakened by international aid cuts, experts say. There are over 920,000 internally displaced people in Ituri Province, according to the U.N.
Armed conflict in the region further complicates efforts to handle the crisis. Local leaders said an attack by ISIS-linked militants killed at least 17 people on Tuesday in Alima, a village in Ituri.
Health workers and aid groups have said they are in dire need of more supplies and staff to respond. Also, there is no available vaccine or medicine for the Bundibugyo strain responsible for the outbreak.
An expert said this week it would be at least six to nine months before one would be available.
“The priority now is act quickly and work closely with communities, as the coming days are critical,” said Ariel Kestens, the head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies delegation in Congo.
Ebola is highly contagious and spreads in people through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood, feces or semen. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding.
The virus spread undetected for weeks following the first known death in late April as Congolese health authorities tested for a different Ebola virus more commonly responsible for outbreaks in the country. Health officials have not yet found “patient zero,” according to the WHO.
The scale of the outbreak so far suggests it “started probably a couple of months ago,” said Anaïs Legand, a viral hemorrhagic fevers expert at the WHO.
The U.S. government has placed restrictions on any travelers who have visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days, barring foreign visitors among them from entering the U.S. and requiring U.S. citizens and permanent residents to be diverted to Washington Dulles International Airport for screening.
India and the African Union said Thursday that the India-Africa Forum Summit, scheduled to be held next week in New Delhi, had been postponed due to the “evolving health situation in parts of Africa.”
On Wednesday, Congo’s soccer team canceled a three-day World Cup preparation training camp and a planned farewell to fans in the capital Kinshasa because of the Ebola outbreak.
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