Acts of violence and harassment are forcing physicians to hide their identities while treating Ebola patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reports The Washington Post.
Five things to know:
1. Community members in cities affected by the country's Ebola outbreak have demonstrated great distrust of outside health workers due to the spread of misinformation.
2. The Congo has seen 119 attacks on health workers this year, and 85 workers were injured or killed, according to the World Health Organization.
3. Faced with this threat of violence, many physicians are trading in their scrubs for street clothes, lying about their profession and using motorbikes to get around, which blend into traffic more than SUVs.
4. This mistrust and violence not only endangers health workers, but also complicates outbreak containment efforts. Ebola infections have continued to climb in the Congo, making it the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history.
5. As of May 16, health officials reported 1,760 confirmed and probable cases linked to the outbreak, including 1,161 deaths.